Articles Posted in Uncategorized

At 08.20, 24 April 2009, CAPT Kevin J. Barry, USCG (Ret.) became an honor graduate of life. His death is a loss not just to his family and friends but to the military justice community as a whole. Kevin worked hard and long as an advocate for his clients, for the system, and an advocate…

One of the most potentially influential Supreme Court decisions for trial practitioners is still pending a decision – Melendez-Diaz. This is the issue of forensic reports as testimonial under Crawford. The betting appears to be that it will be a mind-blower written by Justice Scalia. On 6 April 2009, Professor Freidman, an amicus in the…

Jayme Evans, JAG Corps “Keistered” Justice In Foster Case, Canadian Free Press, 20 April 2009. No military prosecutions in recent history have garnered as much negative publicity for the U.S. Marines as have the cases of the Marines of 3/1 Kilo Company, ambushed in Haditha, Iraq, in November of 2005. But the wrongful conviction and…

Here’s an interesting Order published at Goodfellow AFB, which prohibits military personnel assigned to the 17th Training Wing from traveling to certain parts of Mexico. [T]he border areas of Mexico, including Tijuana, Nogales, Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Acuna, Piedras Negras, and Reynosa/Matamoros. All active duty members, reservists and guardsmen in Title 10 status, attached to the…

Here is an interesting piece from Karen Franklin on her blog. Here is Edward Humes, Guilt by the Numbers, California Lawyer, April 2009. This should not be an issue in most military cases because there’s usually an identified suspect. But it’s interesting to see, once again, how law enforcement and prosecution control of the crime…

The hideous nature of an offender’s conduct must not drive us to forget that it is not severe punishment that promotes respect for the law, it is appropriate punishment. Although there are clearly times when anything less than severe punishment undermines respect for the law, it is just as certain that unduly severe punishment can…

Here is an interesting bit from Crime & Consequences blog. Reprimanded for Delayed Ruling: At Sentencing Law and Policy, Doug Berman posts an excerpt from a Memphis Commercial Appeal article describing the public reprimand of a Shelby County Criminal Court judge for taking more than seven years to rule on a death penalty appeal. According…

Haven’t noted something on technology for a while, so here is a piece by the American Constitution Society (the antithesis of the Federalist Society). Susan Freiwald, Phone Tracking Should Require a Warrant. A pending case in the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals raises a profound question — should the government be able to track…

For more than five years, the ACLU and other advocacy organizations have been seeking the release of Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memos that supplied the basis for the Bush administration’s interrogation, detention, rendition, and warrantless surveillance policies. So here they are from the ACLU blog.

Concurring Opinions blog is discussing speculation that we will soon hear a retirement announcement from Justice Souter. So, This means that breathless speculation about a successor can begin.