Court-Martial Trial Practice

Safeguardourconstitution reports that the Article 32, UCMJ, hearing is scheduled for 11 June 2010. The report links to a letter to MAJ Kemkes (a great TDS lawyer from Fort Myer) granting a delay of the hearing from 6 May to 11 June. LTC Driscoll, a lawyer, is the IO. The use of non-lawyers as IO…

KVUE.com reports that: The attorney representing the accused gunman in the 2009 Fort Hood shootings says the Army is holding back important evidence in the upcoming Article 32 hearing. Attorney John Galligan says he needs court documents, including Major Nidal Hasan’s FBI files, to gain more insight into his mental state in the months leading…

There has been quite a bit of discussion recently of waiving appellate review as part of a pretrial agreement. Here is a timely article from the ABA about this important topic (thanks to Sentencing Law & Policy for the link). Ellis & Bussert, Stemming the Tide of Postconviction Waivers, 25 (1) Crim. Justice, Spring 2010,…

MG John L. Fugh, a former Army TJAG has died. Here is a link to the Washington Post obituary. Maj. Gen. John L. Fugh, who served as the Army’s top uniformed lawyer in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War and later had a successful career in the private sector as China liaison to major…

The advice to an accused about sexual offender registration is complicated. Cases such as Williams v. Lee and Keathley, No. ED 93827, from the Court of Appeals of Missouri, Eastern District, Division Five, decided May 4, 2010. This is a retroactivity case. On February 5, 2000, Williams pled guilty in a military tribunal to one…

The Washington Post has this interesting piece about the status of stolen valor issues.

United States v. Roach has been returned to AFCCA for a second time. Initially the case was sent back because appellant’s case was decided before his counsel submitted a brief, and because the chief judge on his panel had made some public comments relating to the case. This time the case goes back because the…

Allen v. United States Air Force, No. 08-3450 (8th Cir. 7 May 2010). Joseph Allen served in the United States Air Force (Air Force) for more than twenty years, from January 14, 1985, until September 30, 2006, when he voluntarily retired and received an Honorable Discharge. During his service, on February 18, 2004, the Air…

Blogger Rainier4311 has a piece on LTC Lakin which is critical of Anderson Cooper’s interview. Regardless of the merits of the interview, the piece contains some interesting and uninformed comments on the military legal system. This Article 138 discovery process must be done. LTC Lakin now has the right to discovery based on the Articles…

The President intends nominating Elena Kagan, the current Solicitor General of the United States, as the next (and 112th) justice of the United States Supreme Court, according to the Washington Post. In replacing Justice John Paul Stevens, Obama would also be breaking with tradition. Every other member of the court is a former federal appeals…