Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
We are all familiar with the interactions that can occur between the military and civilian prosecutors when deciding who will prosecute a servicemember for crimes in the “civilian” community. Sometimes the result is a civilian prosecution and the military takes adverse administrative actions, sometimes the civilians hand over the case to the military, and sometimes both proceed. Here is an interesting news item from Washington State.
A former soldier accused of murdering his wife can’t get a fair trial because the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office gave confidential police records to the Army as part of a “scheme” to help the military discharge him, a defense attorney alleged in court Monday.
That argument failed to persuade Superior Court Judge Jack Nevin to halt the prosecution of the former Spc. Skylar Nemetz, but it opened a window on how Pierce County and Joint Base Lewis-McChord decide how to hold soldiers accountable for offenses committed in civilian communities.
(Note: Judge Nevin is known to us at NIMJ.)
The News Tribune, 3 January 2016.