Court-Martial Trial Practice

Dear Representative Burton, Thank you for your letter expressing your and your colleagues concern regarding the pending Courts-martial of Petty Officers Huertas, McCabe, and Keefe. I understand your interest in these cases and can assure you that I am committed to protecting the rights of the Sailors who have been accused. Regrettably it appears that…

Here is the QP in Holland v. Florida Whether “gross negligence” by collateral counsel, which directly results in the late filing of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, can qualify as an exceptional circumstance warranting equitable tolling, or whether, in conflict with other circuits, the Eleventh Circuit was proper in determining that factors…

The Fall of a Black Army Officer: Racism & the Myth of Henry O. Flipper, by Charles M. Robinson III, Norman, Ok: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008. In his 1994 book The Court-Martial of Lieutenant Henry Flipper, Robinson, an historian of the frontier army, held to the view that Flipper?s 1881 conviction for embezzlement was…

Should military veterans get a break when they are sentenced for crimes? Asks a piece in the Wall Street Journal. This is interesting in light of some discussion on CAAFLog about sentencing in court-martial and sentence ranges under the UCMJ. Seems some civilian judges are more interested in giving a sentence based on the whole…

A former commander in the Tennessee State Guard has lost an appeal to overturn his conviction for trying to provide his soldiers with homemade machine guns for possible use in defending the state. At trial and in his appeal, Mr. Hamblen argued that he and his soldiers had a Second Amendment right as members of…

Army Maj. Gen. Charles Cleveland has responded to a letter that challenges the handling of a case against three Navy SEALs accused of mishandling a suspected terrorist. In the Dec. 15 letter, addressed to Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., Cleveland essentially refuses to drop the charges against the three men. “While the assault and resulting injury…

David Vincent Weber arrived last month at a Ramona Veterans of Foreign Wars event in style: two stars on his shoulder and two Purple Heart medals pinned on the front of a Marine Corps uniform. Weber, 69, appeared in a federal courtroom in downtown San Diego yesterday with considerably less pomp. He faces a charge…

Discovery obligations apply to court-martial motions practice, for example when there is to be a suppression hearing. The government has a mandatory duty to disclose evidence in its possession that is favorable to the defense, “either because it was exculpatory or of impeachment value . . . .” . The government breaches the duty established…

A man accused of posing as a Marine major general at a Veterans of Foreign Wars party in Ramona to celebrate the birthday of the Marine Corps was arraigned Wednesday on a federal misdemeanor charge of making false claims about military decorations or medals. San Diego News Network reports.

The family of Evan Vela, an imprisoned former soldier from Parker, is expressing gratitude for a Christmas donation to his wife and children. The donation came about through efforts by a national organization to support soldiers accused of crimes related to the war on terrorism. reports Standard Journal.