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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB5SXp95b-c

“Thinking about bringing marijuana on base? Weed rather you didn’t,” the Naval Submarine Base posted on Facebook on July 1, the day possession of marijuana became legal in Connecticut. “State law legalizing possession of marijuana doesn’t apply to military installations.” A few weeks later, the sub base posted a graphic with the message, “We’re going…

A servicemember can refuse to take a COVID vaccine–BUT there are potential disciplinary consequences. Military law is clear that a servicemember can be ordered to submit to vaccinations. This happens at the beginning of enlistment when you are required to have or get certain vaccinations. This is a long-standing practice when reporting to MEPS for…

We all have clients who have been ordered to enter their passwords to their cellphone so the investigators can forensically examine the phone. As military defense counsel we frequently have these issues come up. In 2018 there were an estimated 396 million smartphones and cellphone accounts nationwide. Carpenter v. United States, 585 U.S. ___, 138…

We all have clients anxious to know their SOR status post-conviction. We are required to, at minimum, advise them of the DoD regulation when there is a guilty plea for charges which might require registration. But clients are never satisfied. Here is one case that might have some relevance to registrant’s in South Carolina. The…

There was a time when having adverse information in a restricted folder in the official record meant something in terms of lasting effect of that information. Over time that changed if the officer was selected for promotion. A post-selection screen was then made of everything before forwarding the officer’s name for promotion. Now, Army officer…

Colorado v. Johnson, No. 2021 CO 35, 396 P.3d ____ (2021), requires us to visit the Hobson’s choice where you have successfully had evidence or statements suppressed but there is much value added if the client testifies. The issue then becomes one of potential impeachment with the suppressed evidence. Mil. R. Evid. 304(e)(1) gives us…

In United States v. Schloff, we had an issue with extraneous influences in the “jury” room. The two senior members essentially argued that the Army reputation for dealing with sexual assaults was relevant to their findings–and a guilty result ensued. At the beginning of deliberations on findings of appellant’s court-martial, the president and senior ranking…

I think we all know that MCIOs use Cellebrite UFED devices and software to conduct DFEs of an accused’s cell or smartphone. Up until now, it seems, the DFE reports have been accepted as reliable and accurate so we do not often find ourselves litigating the reliability of the DFE reports. Have circumstances changed which…

The Army has announced servicewide and command-specific changes in the wake of a scathing independent report last year that called for a major overhaul of both its Criminal Investigation Command and its Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention Program, reports Army Times. The changes include the following, according to an Army statement: Army-wide Updated CID policies…