Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
You are on trial for an offense and the prosecution wants to introduce evidence against you under Military Rule of Evidence 404(b). How does that work and what can your military defense lawyer do to exclude such evidence.
The first step is to object to the evidence before trial by filing a motion in-limine. Your military defense lawyer will then argue why the evidence is not admissible and challenge the prosecution’s arguments for admission.
Should something come up during trial, your military defense counsel must object to preserve the issue in the event of an appeal. Failure to object may result in the appellate courts deciding you have “waived” the issue and will refuse to consider it. Or, sometimes the appellate court will apply a less stringent “plain error” review.