Court-Martial Trial Practice

1. What should I do if I learn that I am under military criminal investigation? Contact an experienced military defense lawyer before speaking with investigators. You have the right to remain silent and to consult counsel. Investigators may already have interviewed witnesses, collected evidence, or developed a theory about what happened. At Cave & Freeburg,…

A servicemember learns that CID, NCIS, OSI, or another investigative agency is investigating an allegation of criminal misconduct. What happens next? Does an investigation automatically lead to charges? Who decides whether the case goes to trial? The answer depends partly on the alleged offense and who has authority to make the charging and referral decisions.…

A guilt by association with others is a simple but dangerous shortcut. The prosecution likes to argue that: The shortcut can be especially difficult to recognize because it often appears dressed up as circumstantial evidence. That’s what prosecutor’s call it. Military appellate courts have rejected guilt by association for a long time. Circumstantial evidence is…

Why hire experienced civilian military counsel when the military gives you a lawyer for free? the accused’s lead military defense counsel had represented him for more than six months and devoted 215 hours to his defense. She came to believe that continuing to represent him zealously could affect her next Army assignment, her professional reputation,…

CAAF answers an unusual question about who is an appellate military judge. In United States v. Forrest, No. 25-0081 (C.A.A.F. Sept. 21, 2026), CAAF held that an Army Court of Criminal Appeals (ACCA) judge could participate in deciding a case while on terminal leave before retirement. The issue Senior Judge Walker began terminal leave on…

CAAF’s September 28, 2026, decision in United States v. Menard, No. 25-0173/AF, presents another chapter in the Court’s unsettled jurisprudence over “common plan or scheme” evidence under Military Rule of Evidence 404(b)(2). This time, however, the Court found error. The lesson from Menard is straightforward. Calling several acts a “course of conduct” does not establish…

If military investigatiors want you to cooperate against someone else, the paperwork matters as much as anything you say. Rice is a Government appeal from a military judge’s abatement of trial order because the Government lost a recording of the proffer session. No recording, no trial. At Cave & Freeburg, we defend service members in…

On August 6, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF), the military’s highest court, decided United States v. Hunt, No. 25-0257, 2026 CAAF LEXIS 661 (C.A.A.F. Aug. 6, 2026). The decision is important for any service member appealing a court-martial conviction, and especially for those convicted of sexual assault under…

When there is no eyewitness to the charged act itself, sexual assault prosecutions under UCMJ art. 120, 10 U.S.C. ¬ß 920, often rise or fall on what the complaining witness told other people shortly afterward. Those statements are hearsay. The government gets them in, if at all, through an exception. The workhorse exception is the…

United States v. Rice, ARMY 20240586, 2026 CCA LEXIS 353 (A. Ct. Crim. App. 30 Jul. 2026) (summ. disp.): a military judge’s impartiality. The case in brief An enlisted panel sitting as a general court-martial convicted Specialist Rice, contrary to his pleas, of three specifications of making false official statements in violation of UCMJ art.…