war crime Tag Archives — Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

An early war crime trial?

September 29, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Guenal Mettraux, A Little Known Case from the American Civil War: The War Crimes Trial of Major General John H. Gee, 8 J. Int. Crim. Justice, 1059.

Major John Henry Gee was the commandant of the Confederate prison at Salisbury, North Carolina from 1864 until 1865. During his tenure, thousands of Union prisoners of war died of starvation and diseases or were shot when attempting to escape. Shortly after the end of hostilities, Major Gee was arrested, charged with two counts of violations of the laws of war and brought before a military commission to be tried. The trial of Major Gee is one of the first recorded trials for war crimes and a rare early example of domestic prosecution of an enemy fellow-national for what was effectively an international crime, in a war in which his side had been vanquished. Unlike the war crimes trial of Henry Wirz, commandant of Andersonville prison during the American Civil War, little attention has been paid to this important precedent.

Msr. Mettraux is described as:

Up periscope 55

July 23, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

News8 reports that:

In a court martial trial that concluded after a panel’s deliberations stretched into the early hours of Saturday morning at Andrews Joint Base, a local Airman First Class was found not guilty of the charges brought against him.

As ABC 7 News reported last week, the charges were brought against A1C Marvin Skipper, Jr., after he fell asleep a second time while on security duty–even though doctors had ordered that he not be placed on that type of duty for medical reasons.

Major Hasan’s war crimes trial requests

November 17, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Military.com reports:

Fort Hood massacre suspect Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan sought to have some of his patients prosecuted for war crimes based on statements they made during psychiatric sessions with him, a captain who served on the base said Monday. (emphasis added)

Other psychiatrists complained to superiors that Hasan’s actions violated doctor-patient confidentiality, Capt. Shannon Meehan told The Dallas Morning News.