Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
Brother Bill sent me a link to this Onion piece.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/partially-faded-hand-stamp-undermining-everything,30790/
It is a good teaching tool for those of us who go to court and actually try cases in front of members.
I did a Marine case some years ago where the feedback was interesting. The members spent a lot of time looking at the trial counsel’s belt and gig-line that was off during his closing argument. Something of a distraction.
I did another Marine case even longer ago where the feedback was also interesting. We had a Marine E-8 defense witness. The trial counsel thought he’d try out some recent trial advocacy tips. Apparently the tip included turning away from the witness and facing the members while asking a question, and then being somewhat derisive in tone. After ward the members asked the military judge to counsel the trial counsel that it didn’t help his cause to disrespect a SNCO, even if she was a defense witness.
There you go – tears all around.