Court-Martial Trial Practice

With the start of the new season the Supremes have issued its first Orders List comprising five pages-worth–mostly denials. An observer poindts to, In Kaur v. Maryland, No. 19–1045, Justice Sotomayor’s 5-page statement begins and ends this way: Although I join the Court’s decision to deny certiorari, I write separately to address a concerning feature…

Online at CAAFlog. This is my attempt to put events of the week in one place rather than have to navigate many sites. Cheers.

A veteran’s group is planning to meet at Austin City Hall Thursday afternoon for what it is calling a public trial of Fort Hood leadership over the recent deaths of U.S. Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen and other soldiers stationed at the military base. The group, Vets for the People, is part of the Working Families…

A federal Judiciary committee has issued a new set of model jury instructions (pdf) that federal judges may use to deter jurors from using social media to research or communicate about cases. The new instructions, which update and expand on a similar version issued in 2012, were sent to federal judges on Sept. 1. The…

In Ford v. Perry, the court set aside a conviction based on improper comments of the prosecutor during closing argument. During closing arguments, Ford’s lawyer offered a classic criminal defense that contradictions of witnesses and doubt over the identity of the shooter meant that the presumption of innocence had not been satisfied. The prosecutor then…

Nathaniel Penn gives us a piece of investigative journalism in his new article on Army 1st LT Clint Lorance. This is the sordid saga of a LT whose actions wreaked havoc on those within his platoon, whom a panel (jury) of Army Soldiers convicted of murder, and whom President Trump later pardoned after Fox News…

The Joint Service Committee on Military Justice has submitted its subcommittee’s Prosecutorial Authority Study report in response to § 540F of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. The report, which cost the taxpayers $109,000 (that’s $1185 per page, if you don’t count the appendices), can be found here. There’s also a one-page…

Just Security discusses minimization of civilian casualties beyond that required by military necessity. Against this backdrop, an important symposium series, “Civilian Casualties: The Law of Prevention and Response,” is kicking off on Wednesday (September 30) at noon EDT. The series is intended to promote deeper discussion and greater understanding of the broad range of considerations…

NNY360 says, The Fort Drum soldier charged with carrying a “ghost gun” at a Black Lives Matter protest in June in Troy has left the Army. A Fort Drum official confirmed Noah Latham, 22, is no longer in the Army, as of Aug. 31. Mr. Latham was “separated administratively” from the Army, the official said.…

The Jeffrey MacDonald murder case: A timeline of a major events. One of North Carolina’s most infamous murder cases is back in the national spotlight, with the release this week of the FX documentary series “A Wilderness of Error.” Former Green Beret Army doctor Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted in 1979 of the murders of his…