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Kenneth Jerome Nelson was once celebrated as a war hero and the unofficial caretaker of a monument dedicated to Vietnam veterans in the shadow of the California State Capitol. Now, he’s known as a liar. The veterans activist pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento to wearing a Silver Star that had not…

That is Professor Colin Miller’s entree to: The Shrink(ing) Privilege, Take 2: New York Times Article Reports That Exceptions To Military Psychotherapist-Patient Privilege Are Hindering Therapy. My post is here on the NYT article discussing the military patient-psychotherapist privilege at court-martial and under the UCMJ.

FederalEvidence blog has posted: Fifth Circuit addresses an open issue concerning admission of medical statements under the Confrontation Clause; circuit also notes that “there is no constitutional right to confront the victim of a crime” where the government elects not to call the victim at trial, in United States v. Santos, _ F.3d _ (5th…

Briscoe v. Virginia, a post Crawford and Melendez-Diaz case is scheduled to be argued at the U. S. Supreme Court on 11 January 2010. Professor Friedman will argue for petitioner Briscoe. Professor Friedman notes that, “I have just served and filed the reply in Briscoe. You can read it by clicking here.” All of the…

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s defense attorney skirmished with Army commanders Wednesday over the timing of a sanity examination for the Fort Hood gunman, saying that his client is still too medically impaired to participate. So begins a piece in the Dallas News. What’s the flaw. There is no judge that attorney Galligan can go to…

The Navy’s rule forcing sailors to “promptly” tell their commanding officers if they have been arrested for an off-base drunken-driving violation is unconstitutional, the Navy and Marine Corps’s highest military judges have ruled. And so begins a Navy Times article on United States v. Serianne. I have posted before about the new DoD regulation that…

Here are a couple of interesting items exploring the mental health issues potentially involved with Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood – conclusion, he’s sane. Howard Bloom asks, What if Nidal Malik Hasan is Sane? Psychology Today blog. Were they the insane acts of a man driven over the edge by the…

No pay due, not needed. Army Times reports that a captain stationed at Fort Lewis has plead guilty to stealing about $690,000.00 while in Iraq. No court-martial.

I have posted in connection with some comments about Major Hasan and his desire to have patients prosecuted at court-martial for war crimes and other offenses while deployed to Iraq. Major Hasan’s war crimes trial requests, 17 November 2009. The issue has gained new attention with the recent mass shootings at Fort Hood that killed…

A number of articles are circulating and the blogosphere is discussing the obligations of Major Hasan’s counsel to do anything and everything to avoid the death penalty as a sentence at his court-martial. Here is an interesting item, not that it’s going to be relevant to the Fort Hood case involving Major Hasan, but as…