Court-Martial Trial Practice

United States v. Brown is a good reminder of waiver of motions in pretrial agreements. The typical waiver is that the accused will “waive all waivable motions.” This seems something of an oxymoron. The provision is consistent with the idea that all nonjurisdictional motions are waived on a guilty plea unless there is a conditional…

Army Times reports. The defense does not plan to present any evidence when a military hearing resumes next week for the Army psychiatrist charged in last year’s deadly Fort Hood shootings, the lead defense attorney said Tuesday. John Galligan said the government had offered “no surprises” in presenting its case against Maj. Nidal Hasan during…

Thanks to Sentencing Law & Policy here is a paper that raises some thoughts on IAC for pretrial advice to clients. As we know we won’t get anything solid on that from CAAF a la immigration because Denedo’s case is over. But, . . . . Post Padilla: Padilla’s Puzzles for Review in State and…

Professor Colin Miller uses an Alabama case to remind us that a prior misdemeanor conviction is not admissible under Rule 609(a). Under this Rule, then, it is clear that a party cannot impeach a witness through evidence that the witness has a prior misdemeanor conviction for a crime not involving dishonesty or false statement. But…

A little off topic, but heck, it’s funny. Two Philadelphia police officers have been charged with criminal conspiracy, robbery, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, theft, and other related charges, according to officials. Sean Alivera, 31, and Christopher Luciano, 23, allegedly robbed a supposed drug dealer of 20 pounds of marijuana with a street value of…

United States v. Savard. We granted review to determine whether the military judge erred by failing to hold defense-requested pretrial hearings before ruling on Appellant’s written motions. We hold that, when one of the parties so requests, Rule for Courts-Martial (R.C.M.) 905(h) requires that the military judge hold a hearing on a written motion. (Emphasis…

Misc. No. 11-8009/MC. Frank D. WUTERICH, Appellant v. David L. Jones, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Marine Corps, in his capacity as Military Judge, and United States, Appellees. CCA 200800183. Notice is hereby given that a writ-appeal petition for review of the decision of the United States Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals on application for…

The September Army Lawyer is online. There are five articles of interest to MJ practitioners. Army Review Boards and Military Personnel Law Practice and Procedure, this is by Jan Serene, he is a master of these issues so civilian practitioners can gain some good insight here. Non-Deployable: The Court-Martial System in Combat from 2001 to…

Thanks to Sentencing Law & Policy: PBS Frontline has been giving lots of attention to criminal justice systems this fall. . . . This week Frontline will broadcast a new documentary “The Confessions,” which examines the case of the “Norfolk Four” involving a quartet of Navy men who were wrongfully convicted after being coerced into…

Lexington Herald-Leader reports: Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs’ big talk about killing Afghan civilians and getting away with it made him stand out when he joined a new platoon at an Army base in southern Afghanistan a year ago, according to written statements from his comrades. Some of his Stryker platoon mates from Joint Base Lewis-McChord…