Articles Posted in Sex Offenses

In United States v. Blouin, ARMY 20101135 (A. Ct. Crim. App. 28 May 2014), the court has, in my view, taken a broader view of what qualifies as CP for the purpose of a guilty plea. However, the court is not taking an unknown or unvisited trail. Blouin was charged with possessing CP in violation…

With the ongoing politics surrounding sexual assault in the military, and whether the commander should remain as the disciplinary decision maker, the AF has done an interesting review of (convictions). After a spate of sex-related incidents last year, the Air Force reviewed all courts-martial from the previous three years — more than 2,400 cases —…

Capacity to Consent to Sexual Risk, Elaine Craig, Dalhousie University – Schulich School of Law, 2013 Forthcoming in New Criminal Law Review, Vol. 17, Number 1, pps 103–134. © 2014 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Abstract: In delineating the legal boundaries of capacity to consent to sexual touching, law…

Yes is the simple answer. The harder answer is why, and how do you tell. As I always say, the first question to consider is motive. If you have a motive, a lot must follow to corroborate the motive. Here is an article from the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin about, False Allegations of Adult Crimes.…

Prof. Colin Miller has an interesting post about application of Rule 412, under Texas law, as decided in Johnson v. State, 2013 WL 531079 (Tex.App.-Waco 2013). From Under the Shield: Court of Appeals of Texas Finds Rape Shield Rule Doesn’t Cover Alleged Victim’s Sexual Misconduct Texas Rule of Evidence 412 mimics the federal rule which…

As noted in yesterday’s post, Federal Rule of Evidence 414(a), In a criminal case in which a defendant is accused of child molestation, the court may admit evidence that the defendant committed any other child molestation. The evidence may be considered on any matter to which it is relevant. So, what exactly counts as “child…

The C. G. Ct. Crim. Apps. has issued an unpublished decision in United States v. Whitaker, in which it discusses whether: Appellant’s conviction under Article 125, UCMJ, for consensual sodomy should be dismissed because the military judge failed to discuss the corresponding liberty interest during the providence inquiry. The court concluded it was proper to…

AP reports the following. Johnathan Montgomery spent the past four years in a Virginia state prison saying the same thing a lot of inmates do: He was innocent. Convicted in 2008 of molesting a 10-year-old girl outside her grandmother’s Hampton home when he was 14, he insisted the alleged 2000 assault never happened. Turns out,…

Here is an interesting case from the First, United States v. Cameron, decided 14 November 2012. The issue is confrontation and the admission of various internet provider records. I think this case helpful in litigating the paper that the prosecution seeks to use in CP cases. We thus presume that Cameron’s challenge is to the…

Here, from Prof. Berman TG at Sentencing Law & Policy is a reminder about evidence in CP cases. I think most of us already do this, and a number of prosecutors already think of this. A notable Third Circuit panel ruling today in US v. Cunningham, No. 10-4021 (3d Cir. Sept. 18, 2012) (avalable here),…