Articles Posted in Worth the Read

O’Keeffe, Eamonn (2016) ““Such Want of Gentlemanly Conduct:” The General Court Martial of Lieutenant John de Hertel,” Canadian Military History: Vol. 25: Iss. 2, Article 2. At this court-martial of a junior officer, the British Army assembled 15 more senior officers to serve as the “jury” in the case. Today people whing about getting at…

The Army Court of Criminal Appeals has raised an interesting question and important reminder in United States v. Keen, decided 20 October 2016. The court itself specified the following issue. WHETHER THE MILITARY JUDGE ACTED AS COUNSEL OR LEGAL OFFICER AS TO ANY OFFENSE CHARGED OR IN APPELLANT’S CASE GENERALLY OR FORWARDED CHARGES IN APPELLANT’S…

We have complications in CONUS trials with doctor-patient privileges. Overseas, host nation laws can make an already complex issue more difficult to navigate. COL (former military judge) Masterson discusses the administrative and legal difficulties under the NATO SOFA. Doctor-Patient Privilege Rules Overseas, ARMY LAW. August 2016.

Sara Koenig, Was Anyone Killed Looking for Bowe Bergdahl? Some Hard Evidence at Long Last, 6 October 2016. After nearly a year of waiting, [Serial has] finally received the Army’s internal investigations into the 2009 deaths of six soldiers from Bowe Bergdahl’s unit: MW, CB, KC, MM, DA and MM. None of these investigations report…

This article showed that the vast majority of court-martial sentences are affirmed by AFCCA. On the rare occasion when sentence relief was granted, it was usually not based on factual sufficiency or sentence appropriateness. While there has been some fluctuation in how often AFCCA grants sentence relief, it is minimal and to some extent explained…

so starts a post at wrongfulconvictionsblog–Junk Science Reigns ____ So Much for True Science in the Courtroom. [W]hen the National Academy of Sciences report Forensic Science in the United States; A Path Forward was published people thought we might see a true effort to address “junk science being used to convict innocent people.” The report…

Brett M. Kavanaugh, The Judge as Umpire: Ten Principles, 65 Cath. U. L. Rev. 683 (2016). First, and most obviously, a good judge, like a good umpire, cannot act as a partisan. Fifth, at the same time, to be a good judge and a good umpire you have to possess some backbone. Sixth, to be…

Do you have enough to read, well here’s more. In sum, the Miranda decision has, at best, had little or no impact on the risks of false confession and wrongful conviction. At worst, the influence of police on Miranda procedures and subsequent litigation has actually made things worse for defendants. Leo & Cutler, False Confessions…

There are a couple of interesting items in Vol. 224, MIL. L. REV. MILITARY JUSTICE INCOMPETENCE OVER COMPETENCY DETERMINATIONS, by Major David C. Lai. This is relevant to me because I have an appellate case where there are issues with the client’s current competency and there were at trial. ALWAYS ON DUTY: CAN I ORDER…

A friend brought to my attention this little item for our weekend reading. NOTES: PROSECUTORIAL POWER AND THE LEGITIMACY OF THE MILITARY JUSTICE SYSTEM. 123 HARVARD L. REV. 937 (2010). Is the concluding paragraph correct? The modern military justice system suggests an alternative model of institutional design: it emerged as a made order with legitimacy…