Court-Martial Trial Practice

United States v. Wiechmann, __ M.J. ___, No. 09-0082/MC (C.A.A.F. July 6, 2009) has been decided. There was error, but found to be constitutionally harmless. After a captain with very little defense experience was detailed to represent a retirement-eligible lieutenant colonel, the Chief Defense Counsel of the Marine Corps detailed a highly respected Marine Reservist…

There’s at least one federal judge who likes to enforce discovery where the prosecution has a – in my words – self executing duty to produce. Federal Judge Questions Prosecution Conduct in Ye Gon Case. “This is the second time in less than three months in a high profile case where the Department of Justice…

The officers had PC for a vehicle search based on their surveillance, so Gant has no application. United States v. Almaraz, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54138 (S.D. N.Y. June 26, 2009).* The stop in this case was not unreasonably extended. The officer’s questioning during the writing of the ticket led to answers that were more…

Drug ‘em if you’ve got ‘em. I’ve argued often that the military drug policy is broken: Alcohol the number one drug of abuse — a killer, a cause of injury, and a cause of physical damage and loss of military property — goes relatively free from regulation and consequence, military pharmacies distribute millions of prescription…

Here is this month’s technology/software item to go in your office-in-a-briefcase. Gwabbit. gwabbit is an Add-in for Microsoft Outlook and the BlackBerry that finds, gwabs and adds contacts from your emails to your Outlook address book with a single mouse click! Along with PureText, and CiteGenie, gwabbit add-on makes it easier when cutting and pasting…

Here is information concerning President Obama’s recent comments on DADT. Obama urges lesbian, gay patience overturning ‘unjust laws’ (text from the L.A. Times) Remarks by President Obama at the LGBT Pride Month White House Reception, June 29, 2009. Here is Volokh Conspiracy’s multiple choice test on the comments. To deal with this grave and urgent…

Abu Ghraib Scandal Haunts Lynndie England June 29, 2009 Associated Press KEYSER, W.Va. – More than two years since leaving her prison cell, the woman who became the grinning face of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal spends most of her days confined to the four walls of her home.

I’ve commented earlier that I do not see Melendez-Diaz altering the drug urinalysis case in terms of laboratory evidence. Here is some additional thought which I think supports my conclusion. Q2: Peer review, forensic experts. One question that came up during oral argument, and remains after the ruling, is the application of the ruling to…

Here is part of Professor Colin Miller’s recent post about search incident to arrest after Arizona v. Gant was decided by the Supreme Court. This is a good review of the issue. [Quote] In 1969, the Supreme Court established the boundaries of proper search incident to a lawful arrest in California v. Chimel, 395 U.S.…

It’s been a while since this issue has come up, and it does come up every now and again in military cases – DoD has approximately 50,000 foreign nationals on active duty. Some more fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Medellin v. Texas fell today from the California Supreme Court. The case is…