Court-Martial Trial Practice

The government wants to offer data from a computer or some other mechanical or recording device. Can a NCIS agent testify about the contents. No. That violates the best evidence rule, Mil. R. Evid. 1001. Courtesy of federalevidence.com here is a link for a recent case dealing with GPS information: Ninth Circuit reverses an importation…

Not sure the value – but I’m tracking the impending release of this publication: Apparently written for civilian attorney’s representing current or former military personnel, it may well have resources, ideas, and guidance for the military practitioner. Major Evan Seamore, Chief of Military Justice for the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Benning, GA,…

Quite a few cases, especially the sexual assault ones arriving recently have involved text and chat messages as potential evidence against the client. As is to be expected, most of the time the investigators do not seize and clone the phone to preserve evidence (although I am dealing with one CID office at Fort Lee…

Warrant for DNA failed to show probable cause because it was based on mere conclusions. On remand, however, the state is free to use inevitable discovery to validate it. State v. Jenkins, 2012 S.C. App. LEXIS 84 (March 28, 2012): Nevertheless, the State argues that because this case involves a sex crime, the magistrate could…

Jessica D. Gabel & Ashley D. Champion, Regulating the Science of Forensic Evidence: A Broken System Requires a New Federal Agency, 19 Texas L. Rev. See Also 19 (2011). Science has its watershed moments. In February 2009, the National Academy of Sciences released its much-anticipated diagnosis of and prescription for the problems plaguing the practice…

Here is an interesting book. Here is a review that’s better than I could write. The book is not about courts-martial. There are several books that are good reads on military justice. Here are a couple.

On 22 March 2012, CAAF made summary disposition of United States v. Sobenes. No. 11-0566/MC. U.S. v. Alan D. SOBENES. CCA 201000381. On consideration of the petition for grant of review of the decision of the United States Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals, we note that the convening authority approved the sentence, which included…

In addition to oral argument in Vazquez (link to argument here), the court issued several opinions of relevance to military trial and appellate practitioners: what are the “rules” and standards for IAC in regard to pretrial negotiations. Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye. the Court vacated the decision of the Court of Appeals of…

The Hamdaniyah related case of United States v. Hutchins ends, at NMCCA at least.

On 20 March 2012, NMCCA decided United States v. Jones; and in doing so they have answered a question that was not unexpected, but took a little while to come. In United States v. Miller, 63 M.J. 452 (C.A.A.F. 2006), CAAF decided prospectively that defense counsel must advise a client about the DoD sexual offender…