Court-Martial Trial Practice

Prof. Colin Miller brings us this note. Similar to its federal counterpart, Idaho Rule of Evidence 803(1) provides an exception to the rule against hearsay for A statement describing or explaining an event or condition, made while or immediately after the declarant perceived it. The first part of this “present sense impression” exception is easy…

What happens after trial. Here is another case of mine that found itself in federal court–United States v. Mingo. When the Feds tell you to register and follow the rules they mean it. In January 2005, Mingo enlisted in the United States Army. See Sealed Complaint at 2, United States v. Mingo, No. 16 Cr.…

NMCCA has an unpublished opinion in United States v. Allen. “We have written often to urge convening authorities and their staff judge advocates [SJAs] to pay scrupulous attention to detail throughout the post trial process. This case compels us to reiterate that urging yet again.” [1] Unfortunately, this is not a new problem in the…

Over the transom comes the petition in Perez v. Colorado at the Supreme Court. Whether, and to what extent, the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee a criminal defendant the right to discover potentially exculpatory mental health records held by a private party, notwithstanding a state privilege law to the contrary. The petition begins with, When…

CNN reports, See also, https://connectingvets.radio.com/articles/retired-army-general-james-grazioplene-stand-trial-rape-charges-army-dismissed https://taskandpurpose.com/news/retired-army-general-rape-charges Retired Army Maj. Gen. James Grazioplene on Wednesday admitted to sexually abusing his then-teenage daughter in the 1980s, in exchange for a suspension of his sentence. His daughter, Jennifer Elmore, turned 49 on Wednesday. Grazioplene pleaded guilty in a Prince William County, Virginia, circuit court to aggravated sexual battery.…

Here is a link to Dave Schlueter and Lisa Schenk’s White Paper AMERICAN MILITARY JUSTICE: RETAINING THE COMMANDER’S AUTHORITY TO ENFORCE DISCIPLINE AND JUSTICE. In summary, [they] believe that: • Commanders play a critical and necessary role in the American military justice system; • Transferring prosecutorial discretion from commanders to judge advocates will undermine commanders’…

From CrimProf Blog, Editor: Kevin Cole, Univ. of San Diego School of Law Friday, July 3, 2020 Sundby on Interrogation Law By CrimProf BlogEditor Share Scott E. Sundby (University of Miami School of Law) has posted The Court and the Suspect: Human Frailty, the Calculating Criminal, and the Penitent in the Interrogation Room (Washington University…

We know that some people lie about being sexually assaulted. We know that one of the reasons–motives–or as psychologists say “the secondary gain,” is to protect a marriage or relationship. We know that some women are like men, they cheat on their spouse. Yet investigators often ignore these knowns–in following orders to believe the “victim”…

What happened after—trial, CCA review, and in the case below at CAAF. From time to time I find it interesting to follow habeas cases involving a military petitioner. So, here is Santucci v. Commandant, No. 19-3116-JWL (D.C. Kan. May 26, 2020). The ACCA decision. The CAAF decision without opinion, is at 2017 CAAF LEXIS 522…

Akorede Omotayo, The Right to Silence–or the Presumption of Guilt. This is an interesting discussion from another country on something we are familiar with. It will be recalled that the right to silence formerly comprises the privilege against self-incrimination and the right not to have adverse inferences drawn from his silence. Prior to the CJPOA,…