Court-Martial Trial Practice

Capt. Michael A. Webb, 46, of Coto de Caza, Calif., was found unresponsive Sunday at 7:21 a.m. and was later pronounced dead at the scene, said Lt. Col. Roger Galbriath. Webb had been placed under pretrial restraint as a result of the serious nature of his misconduct, because he failed to report to Quantico Marine…

Here’s a link to the DOJ list of principal FOIA contacts at federal agencies. I’ve added this as a link to my list of important sites. Here’s a link to Mark Bennett, 16 Simple Rules for Better Jury Selection, 22(1) The Jury Expert, Jan. 2010. The highly entertaining Bennett has some interesting rules: The Shrek…

I have posted about this issue here, here, and here. As noted previously on this blog, there have been some notable recent examples of judges reducing a sentence based on the hardships a defendant previously suffered as a result of military service. Now, as detailed in this local article from Kansas, this concept is getting…

CAAF has decided two cases related to Abu Ghraib: United States v. Harman, and United States v. Smith. The issue in Harman was factual sufficiency and the conviction and sentence was affirmed. Appellant admitted to investigators that she took a new detainee, who had been placed on a box with a hood over his head,…

In 1988 the Court of Military Appeals decided Griffith. I have used the case from time to time, not often successfully. But here is a recent example of what I call 917-on-steroids. I was pleasantly surprised that it was the judge who first raised the Griffith possibility. R.C.M. 917 allows the defense to make a…

The Army has charged an Illinois National Guardsman in Afghanistan with possession of child and adult pornography, and his family has come to his defense, arguing that he was the target of a personal vendetta. Army Times reports. This is an ongoing case that started because the kids mother sent him a photograph of a…

You’ll recollect the tale of Navy Captain Lisa Nowak, commented here. Officials from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service last week took custody of the evidence in the case of former NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak, a Navy captain. Florida Today reports. The report has an excellent time-line of the strange events in this case.

I have commented before about suicides and military justice, Military Suicides. Marine Capt. Michael A. Webb has died of an apparent suicide in the brig at Quantico while awaiting court martial, a base public affairs officer said Tuesday. Inisde NoVa reports. Army investigators have charged a 22-year-old Fort Bragg soldier with two burglaries and a…

You keep running really really hard and push off. And unlike most enlisted folks and a lot of officers you get —- 21 days of restriction and 100 demerits, according to the information provided to the newspaper. The Capital reports. I’m sure all our clients discharged with BCD’s, OTH’s, and general discharges will appreciate the…

Moral: when you go AWOL you can’t keep running if you run out of gas. As I drive I-95 I often see military convoys. It had not occurred to me that one or more of the drivers was in the process of going AWOL. An Army private is in custody in Daytona Beach for being…