Court-Martial Trial Practice

Navy Times reports: The former executive officer of a Mayport, Fla.-based destroyer pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of assault, wrongful sexual contact and other charges during an arraignment Wednesday at Naval Station Mayport, according to Naval Surface Force Atlantic. Prior links here and here.

Military.com reports: The commander of a guided-missile destroyer has been relieved of command while the Navy investigates allegations of misconduct. The San Diego-based Third Fleet says Cmdr. Jay Wylie of the USS Momsen was relieved Wednesday due to “loss of confidence in his ability to command.” He was reassigned to a San Diego post. And…

Here’s an interesting report from the National Institute of Justice. The writers find that SOR has little effect on the rate or recidivism of sex offenders in New Jersey. They reference, The New Jersey study report Megan’s Law: Assessing the Practical and Monetary Efficacy is available at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/225370.pdf. Sex offense rates in New Jersey have…

Navy Times reports: Two sailors assigned to the naval hospital at Camp Lejeune, N.C., are being described as “persons of interest” in a child molestation and child pornography investigation that has netted a local woman on charges that include the molestation of her 5-year-old niece.

Yes, I got my copy of the NIJ Journal, so here’s another interesting article available on the web. Solving the Problem of Untested Evidence in Sexual Assaults, by Nancy Ritter.

The National Institute of Justice has now put The Fingerprint Sourcebook, by the Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology (SWGFAST), et al., March 2011, Chapters 1, 4 – 8, 10 – 13, and 14 – 15 on line. It appears that the remaining chapters will be published “in stages.” I was…

Military.com reports: Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said April 27 that the spate of firings of senior officers involves only a small portion of the commanding officer corps and doesn’t hint at a wider problem across the fleet. . . . [this fosters accountability] . . . “Since 2005, we have dismissed less than…

The National Law Journal has this piece: Head in the sand over prosecutorial misconduct. The Supreme Court has sent a disturbing message that it just doesn’t realize there is a serious problem infecting our criminal justice system.

EvidenceProf blog reports on Commonwealth v. Patterson, 2011 WL 1520025 (Mass.App.Ct. 2011). It is not very often that a defendant claims that a criminal prosecution violated both his Second Amendment and Sixth Amendment rights, but that was exactly the case in Commonwealth v. Patterson, 2011 WL 1520025 (Mass.App.Ct. 2011). Here’s the confrontation point. The defendant’s…

Yes, I know we’re all tired about hearing of this case, but: Washington Wire reports: The White House today posted on its blog a copy of President Barack Obama’slong form birth certificate from the State of Hawaii, along with copies of an April 22, 2011 letter from Mr. Obama’s lawyer requesting that the Hawaii State…