In United States v. Mercier, __ M.J. __, No. 20160318 (C.G. Ct. Crim. App. Mar. 18, 2016) the court denied a Government interlocutory appeal of a military judge’s ruling that found that a specification was improperly referred and dismissed the specification without prejudice. This would seem to be a perfect opportunity to take up, again,…
Continue reading ›Courtesy of Prof. Colin Miller and his excellent evidence blog, here are some thoughts for the day on prosecutor error. Keep this in mind when the prosecution want’s to admit documents or reports. 6th Circuit Case w/Brady Violation Based on Nondisclosure of Cover Sheet About Unreliability of Evidence In the recent reopened PCR proceedings, Adnan…
Continue reading ›Can the actions of military prosecutors raise the specter of Unlawful Command Influence? Maybe. That conclusion can at least can be gleaned from the case of United States v. Garcia, decided in 2015 by the Army Court of Criminal Appeals. (United States v. Garcia, No. 20130660, 2015 CCA LEXIS 335 (A. Ct. Crim. App. August…
Continue reading ›We often hear of prosecution misconduct going unchallenged or undisciplined. Two events this week are noteworthy though in efforts to hold prosecutors accountable. Armstrong v. Daily, et. al., is a case out of the Seventh. The M-W Journal Sentinal extracts this: He brought a civil rights suit against the prosecutor on his case, John Norsetter,…
Continue reading ›Remember Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264 (1959)? Here’s the Justia summary. At petitioner’s trial in a state court in which he was convicted of murder, the principal state witness, an accomplice then serving a 199-year sentence for the same murder, testified in response to a question by the Assistant State’s Attorney that he had…
Continue reading ›The military SVC programs have been ongoing for a little while. So some signs of the good and bad are starting to show. It is too early to tell if the issues are start-up issues or long term fixes, or cavitations or super-cavitations. One aspect to be expected and not wholly rejected is alleged victims…
Continue reading ›Some prosecutors get carried away with their mission and over over-egg their argument. In a winnable case it shouldn’t be necessary. If you’ve got a bad case, but get a conviction it may lead to reversal. Here’s another example. A Connecticut appeals court decided to send a message to a prosecutor accused of appealing to…
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