Court-Martial Trial Practice

Breaker Morant—who has not heard of him, especially for those attending NJS after the 1980’s film Breaker Morant was released. The Sydney Morning Herald (Aust.) has a book review, Peter Fitzsimmons, Breaker Morant. Hachette (2020). Hero, scapegoat, or villain—you decide. The subject of Peter FitzSimons’ latest work is Harry ‘‘Breaker’’ Morant, an Englishman who holds…

My weekly “review” is here https://www.caaflog.org/home/up-periscope4418984

Worth the Read, Doug Stout, Veterans column: Newark’s Scott found guilty of mutiny. Newark Advocate. United States v. Scott is due to be argued before the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces pm 17 November 2020. The issue is whether Appellant’s trial defense counsel were ineffective by failing to introduce substantial positive character evidence…

Exercising his authority under 10 U.S.C. § 825, a military commander hand-selected ten White members to sit on a general court-martial panel—the military equivalent of a jury—for a Black man charged with sexual misconduct against White women. Before selecting this all-White panel, the commander received a report showing the White women first identified their perpetrator…

Office of the Chief Counsel, 2019 Domestic Operations Law & Policy, 2d ed. The National Guard Bureau, 28 November 2018. The cover letter to the policy says, 1. I am pleased to present this 2nd edition of the Domestic Operations Law and Polley Manual! Following the devastating hurricanes and fires of 2017, I tasked our…

This report makes two key findings: • There is not a systemic problem with the initial disposition authority’s decision either to prefer a penetrative sexual offense charge or to take no action against the subject for that offense. In 94.0% and 98.5% of cases reviewed, respectively, those decisions were reasonable. • There is a systemic…

Military Court Rules of the United States: Procedure, Citation, Professional Responsibility, Civility, and Judicial Conduct: Military Court Rules of the United States presents a collection of the military justice system’s court rules, in a single volume. https://store.lexisnexis.com/products/military-court-rules-of-the-united-states-procedure-citation-professional-responsibility-civility-and-judicial-conduct-skuusSku18865085 I do NOT receive anything from Lexis, nor do the others listed.

The Court remanded United States v. Cabrera to NMCCA for additional review based on claims that the military judge should have been recused and that trial and appellate defense counsel were IAC for not raising that at trial or before NMCCA. The initial NMCCA opinion. In that opinion the only issues raised were a double…

18 U.S.C. § 1385—Posse Comitatus Act. Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two…

Lorrance v. Commandant. This matter is a petition for habeas corpus filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, challenging Petitioner’s conviction by general court-martial. At the time of filing, Petitioner was confined at the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This matter is before the Court on Respondent’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 10) in…