An implicit bias is “‘an association or preference that is not consciously generated and is experienced without awareness.’” Michele Benedetto Neitz, Pulling Back the Curtain: Implicit Bias in the Law School Dean Search Process, 49 SETON HALL L. REV. 629, 656 (2019) (quoting J. Bernice B. Donald & Sarah E. Redfield, Framing the Discussion, in…
Continue reading ›The Pentagon Inspector General has announced plans to evaluate how well U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command are following rules aimed at preventing war crimes. In a memo issued Monday, the IG said that the investigation will focus on the commands’ efforts to carry out Defense Department directives aimed at reducing “potential law of…
Continue reading ›Federal Rule of Evidence 803(2) provides an exception to the rule against hearsay for A statement relating to a startling event or condition, made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement that it caused. So, should this excited utterance exception apply to a 911 call about a stolen gun. That was the question…
Continue reading ›Mil. R. Evid. 610 prohibits using a witness’s religious beliefs to bolster or undermine their credibility. But what about questions regarding whether a defendant had a “come to Jesus” moment after committing the crime charged? That was the question addressed by the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee in its recent opinion in Pillars v.…
Continue reading ›No, this isn’t about the President, but about one of his cases that leads us to consideration of attorney ethics when deciding to withdraw from a case. Prof. Jonathan Turley has this critique of one of DJT’s attorney’s seeking to withdraw from litigation. On January 7th, an attorney representing President Donald Trump filed a one-page…
Continue reading ›The Air Force’s top enlisted leader is looking into an incident involving an airman who was sent a Letter of Reprimand and a Letter of Counseling shortly after attempting suicide, so reports Task & Purpose. The airman said their unit, the 460th Space Wing’s Dental Flight based at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., was plagued…
Continue reading ›The NDAA veto having been overridden, look for changes to Articles 6b, 66, 67, 140a. Review amendments.–The amendments made by subsections (b) and (c) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply with respect to any case in which every finding of guilty entered into the record under…
Continue reading ›The now law NDAA for 2021 has a number of provisions including this one. If you are not aware, compassion fatigue is a real thing even for lawyers, more for defense counsel and SVC’s than prosecutors. If you have compassion fatigue that can adversely affect your court-room work as well as relationships with others in…
Continue reading ›Prof. Colin Miller notes that prosecutor discipline for Brady violations is “rarer than steak tartare.” He reports to case of a NY prosecutor suspended for two-years because of significant Brady violations. On May 9, 2017, the former homicide prosecutor was caught withholding exculpatory material from Messiah Booker, a man charged with first-degree murder who had…
Continue reading ›The Peace and Justice Initiative describes command responsibility as, “Command or superior responsibility” is often misunderstood. First, it is not a form of objective liability whereby a superior could be held criminally responsible for crimes committed by subordinates of the accused regardless of his conduct and regardless of what his knowledge of these crimes. Nor…
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