The School Solution — Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

The Reporter, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Fall 2008) has a couple of articles worth reading.

Major Jefferson McBride, CONFRONTATION CLAUSE: The Way Ahead with Remote Testimony, p. 20.

Major Thomas Dukes, EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY? A Brief History, Including [United States v.] Long, [United States v. ] Larson, and DOD’s New Computer Use Policy, p.22.

For defense counsel keep in mind that you are reading the school solution, meaning DoD solutions. Major McBride is an Instructor, Military Justice Division, The A.F. Judge Advocate General’s School. The first article challenges the reader to think outside the box. Absolutely, do not let them box you into the school solution. Major Dukes is listed as a current trial judge. If you have a computer related case in front of him, you should be aware of this article and voir-dire him on it. This would not be the first A.F. military judge to be voir dire'd on a recent publication. Part of his conclusion states,

The bottom-line effect of the Larson decision would appear to be that military members will have great difficulty establishing a reasonable expectation of privacy in information stored on their government computers or contained in their official e-mail accounts.