Articles Posted in Worth the Read

On 30 November 2015, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Musacchio v. United States, a case of potential interest to military justice practitioners. There are two questions presented. (1) Whether the law-of-the-case doctrine requires the sufficiency of the evidence in a criminal case to be measured against the elements described in the jury instructions…

We all laugh at TV shows and movies which we think of as fantasy. The CSI shows, NCIS, JAG, among . We ..get a laugh out of them. But reality may make you cry. Nathan J. Robinson, Forensic Pseudoscience: The Unheralded Crisis of Criminal Justice. Boston Review, November 16, 2015. This past April, the FBI…

My title is the title of an excellent article in the Air Force Reporter by Thomas G. Becker. Mr. Becker takes on the amount of damage done to military justice and the truth-seeking process because of the changes to Article 32 proceedings.

United States v. Dreyer. A decision from the Ninth. On issues arising from the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA), the en banc court affirmed the district court’s denial of a suppression motion, and remanded to the three-judge panel for consideration of remaining issues, in a case in which the defendant was convicted of one count of…

Here is another case where a military prisoner has sought habeas corpus relief, in the Kansas District Court (the Tenth Circuit). Valois v. Commandant, USDB The case provides a fascinating discussion of the maze and complexities of DoD and Service regulations the award of good time credit, work abatement, and such, applicable to clients confined…

Bergdahl v. Burke. More information here.

I’m a believer in Restorative Justice. In America The Vengeful this is an approach much derided and ignored. In my view that means the exacters of “justice” don’t really care much about the victim. Anyway, there are many facets to the concept one of them is repairing what has been done wrong. For the victim…

David A. Schlueter, American Military Justice: Responding To The Siren Songs For Reform. 73 A.F. LAW REV. 195 (2015). In Greek mythology, a “siren” was a creature—half bird and half woman— that would lure sailors to destruction with their sweet and enticing songs. Today, the American military justice system is being subjected to sweet and…

The Gazette of Colorado Springs has an article on the current USAFA sexual assault case. It’s worth the read because of its misinformation, or perhaps lack of understanding. So here goes with some comments. 1.People are upset because it’s odd the hearing was closed for quite a bit of time. Duh. Of course it’s closed:…

(W)e seem to be on an endless quest to unmask the deceiver. This is easier said than done. The research is surprising. Even the professionals aren’t very good at catching people in a lie. When we do catch a lie, it’s often not for the reasons you may expect. There is no “Pinocchio’s nose”. That…