FayObserver reports that:
A 12th juror was seated in the court-martial of Army Master Sgt. Timothy B. Hennis at Fort Bragg this morning, but the total was quickly knocked back to 10.
Attorneys on both sides exercised their right to peremptorily challenge one juror each.
The prosecution of SPC Ivette Davila, at Fort Lewis, will generate some interest; hers will be the first death penalty prosecution of a woman under the UCMJ.
Checking – has a woman ever been executed as a result of a court-martial in the United States? The answer is no under the UCMJ. The two most famous death penalty cases involving women were Kinsella v. Singleton, 361 U.S. 234 (1960), and Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957). (These cases stood, until the recent change to Article 2, UCMJ, for the proposition that there was no court-martial jurisdiction over civilians except under limited circumstances. The constitutionality of the recent changes to Article 2, UCMJ, extending jurisdiction over civilians is yet to be tested.)
Noted authority on the UCMJ Frederick Bernays Wiener represented Mrs. Kinsella.
Seattle Times reports.
A woman accused of killing two fellow soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord and kidnapping their baby in 2008 will face a general court-martial after military authorities determined last week there was enough evidence to move forward with the case.
The News Tribune reports this is a death penalty referral (seems like a decent summary of the case so far). See also, BakersfieldNow.com.
Remember those NJS days, and at other military justice seminars – scenes from Breaker Morant (the movie), and discussion.
A PETITION for the pardon of Harry ”Breaker” Morant and Peter Handcock, Australian soldiers executed by the British for the murder of prisoners in the dying days of the Boer War, has been forwarded to the Queen by the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland.
[T]he petition argues that the convictions of lieutenants Morant and Handcock, and that of Lieutenant George Witton, whose sentence was commuted, were unsafe; that their trial was unfair; that mistakes were made by the judge advocate; that the men’s right to petition for mercy to the king was ignored, and that the Australian government was deliberately kept ignorant of the trial until after the executions.
The Army has charged an Illinois National Guardsman in Afghanistan with possession of child and adult pornography, and his family has come to his defense, arguing that he was the target of a personal vendetta.
Army Times reports. This is an ongoing case that started because the kids mother sent him a photograph of a child. In the photograph you can apparently see her crack.
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The court-martial of Gen. William Hull — who gave up Detroit to the British without a fight during the War of 1812 — began Jan. 3, 1814.
Deemed a coward, Hull was found guilty of dereliction of duty and sentenced to death, but President James Madison later reduced it because of the officer’s impressive Revolutionary War record of service. Historians later concluded that Hull’s actions in August 1812 were correct.
The Detroit Free Press reports.
I blogged a bit of gossip the other day that there may now be up to 12 trial counsel working on Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s court-martial. I had blogged that Major Hasan had two military counsel, that appears wrong, and so too might be the rumor of 12 TC.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 12 soldiers and a civilian at Fort Hood last month, won’t get the two additional military lawyers his defense team has requested.
John P. Galligan, the retired Army colonel who is representing Maj. Hasan, asked the Army earlier this month to add the veteran legal officers to the defense team. In addition to Mr. Galligan, Maj. Hasan has a military-appointed defense counsel, Maj. Christopher Martin.
Someone has made a valid request of Congress, and they have agreed:
The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday suspended its investigation of the Nov. 5 shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, until the Department of Defense had finished its investigation.
DoD requested that Congress wait until its review had been complete before calling DoD witnesses to testify in public hearings, according to a release from committee chairman Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo.
Rumor has it that there are now 12 trial counsel assigned to the prosecution of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, at least one of whom has military death penalty litigation experience.
The defense remains at three with Mr. Galligan and two military defense counsel, none of whom have death penalty experience under the UCMJ.
The Army psychiatrist charged with fatally shooting 13 people at Fort Hood last month has been moved from a hospital intensive care unit to a private room, his attorney said Wednesday. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan remains under guard at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio and is rehabilitating from wounds that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
The Army Times reports that the prosecution is being bolstered for the court-martial of Major Hasan for his court-martial at Fort Hood.
A senior military official said Friday that a new lead prosecutor has been appointed in the Fort Hood shooting case, a man who secured the death penalty in a similar case four years ago.
Col. Michael Mulligan will head the prosecution of Maj. Nidal Hasan, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the investigation.
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog