Court-Martial Trial Practice BlogI had to go to the bank, pet store, and commissary today so I stopped off to watch the arraignment.
There was a standard R.C.M. 802 conference.
The Army script was followed.
Articles Tagged with UCMJ
Military Human experiments?
The Boston Globe reports:
The Department of Defense is investigating whether 80 wounded American service members in Iraq were improperly used as subjects in a test of a possible treatment for brain injuries, according to the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General.
In addition to the defense investigation, the US Navy is conducting an inquiry into alleged research misconduct and potential violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to Jennifer Plozai, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon’s inspector general, in response to questions from the Globe. She declined to spell out the nature of the alleged misconduct.
Up periscope
Lot here today. Catching up after a contested trial at Fort Bragg. I’ll update the Lakin page after today’s “events.”
Kate Wiltrout reports the retrial of Richard Mott at NOB, NorVA.
Almost two years after a Navy judge found Seaman Richard Mott guilty of attempted premeditated murder and sentenced him to 12 years in prison, he got a second chance this week to plead his case before a new judge and a military jury.
Collateral consequences
Here is a piece from Kitsap Sun:
A doctor who is being expelled from the Navy was charged by Kitsap County prosecutors Thursday with failing to register as a sex offender, according to attorneys familiar with the case.
State law requires people convicted of certain sex crimes to register as sex offenders within three days of arriving in a new state.
Fricke dead, case still good law
Navy Times reports:
A former Navy officer who was serving time for hiring someone to kill his wife was killed in a Kansas military prison a month before he was supposed to be released.
Officials at Fort Leavenworth say 54-year-old former Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Fricke was beaten with a baseball bat by another inmate on July 24. He died Thursday after his family authorized taking him off life support.
Some quick reminders about guilty pleas and such
There’s something for everyone out of a number of Navy and Coast Guard cases.
Defense Counsel.
When the military judge wrongly announces a sentence which will inure to your client’s benefit, generally you should keep you mouth shut. But, once you get the SJAR, double check the SJAR against the record. See United States v. Spears below. My perception is there is an increase in the number of error in SJAR’s which the trial defense counsel has failed to comment on. I posted on United States v. Newby yesterday. So what you say, he got relief, good for him. The appellant in Spears will now have a lot of trouble dealing with DFAS to get back the unauthorized forfeitures that’s the problem now. Whereas if the issue had been caught at the time of the SJAR it might have been easier to resolve. Yes I know there are many SJA’s out there who would have pressed forward with the erroneous advice anyway.
Newby decided at CGCCA
United States v. Newby has been decided and has a reminder for trial defense counsel.
The military judge made a clemency recommendation.
The SJAR failed to note the clemency recommendation.
Nerad decided at CAAF
CAAF has issued an opinion in United States v. Nerad. RYAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which EFFRON, C.J., and ERDMANN, J., joined. BAKER, J., filed a separate opinion concurring in the result. STUCKY, J., filed a separate dissenting opinion.
Nerad gets a remand to AFCCA for the court to clarify it’s ruling.
USS Indianapolis
The News-Gazette reports an excerpt from the Congressional Record about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the subsequent court-martial of the commanding officer for the loss of his ship. The ship was sunk on 30 July 1945. The ultimate
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.–(1) It is the sense of Congress, on the basis of the facts presented in a public hearing conducted by the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate on September 14, 1999, including evidence not available at the time of Captain Charles Butler McVay’s court-martial, and on the basis of extensive interviews and questioning of witnesses and knowledgeable officials and a review of the record of the court-martial for and in that hearing, that–
(A) recognizing that the Secretary of the Navy remitted the sentence of the court-martial and that Admiral Nimitz, as Chief of Naval Operations, restored Captain McVay to active duty, the American people should now recognize Captain McVay’s lack of culpability for the tragic loss of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the lives of the men who died as a result of her sinking; and
Up periscope
I previously posted about this but here is a more detailed Navy Times report about CSM Crump, formerly of WRAMC.
A former command sergeant major at Walter Reed Army Medical Center fired for allegedly faking his record and wearing unauthorized awards and decorations faces military discipline for a series of bold deceptions that span several years and multiple commands, according to the charges against him.
World News Daily has a piece on LTC Lakin’s OER issue. The piece seems to accept without question or fact-check the allegation that the, “Army convicted me without trial.” It would seem a proper journalistic analysis would review the actual report (still publically unavailable) and review in comparison to AR 623-3 .