Court-Martial Trial Practice

Here is the lead in for an piece on federalevidence.com blog: In medical malpractice case, trial court’s exclusion of defense expert as unqualified was not harmless error; the defense expert’s opinion that the plaintiff’s expert’s conclusion was not supported by the medical literature plaintiff cited did not require the defense expert to have as much…

For those following the animal cruelty case at Fort Bliss, and also noting CAAFLogs reference to a potential new “charge” in the UCMJ of animal cruelty, here is a public discussion by the Fort Bliss garrision commander about his decision to issue an Article 15, UCMJ, punishment. Fort Bliss Garrison Commander Col. Edward Manning talked…

CAAF has granted review in United States v. Trew of this issue (this is a link to Trew’s discussion on CAAFLog and the NMCCA opinion) (and here is my earlier post): WHETHER, IN LIGHT OF UNITED STATES v. WALTERS, 58 M.J. 391 (C.A.A.F. 2003) AND UNITED STATES v. SEIDER, 60 M.J. 36 (C.A.A.F. 2004), THE…

Jury instructions to include rules on use of new media Recent incidents of jurors using new media during cases in civilian courtrooms in the States have led a military judge to rework instructions given to panelists in military courts-martial. Army Col. Ted Dixon, a military judge who edits the military judges’ benchbook, said he’s not…

Earlier I commented on prosecutors introducing inadmissible irrelevant evidence to set the stage or lay the groundwork for an investigation and prosecution (here). Here’s another case, again from the 1st Circuit. This case requires us to assess the propriety of the government’s use of a law enforcement officer as the first witness in a multi-defendant…

Here’s Stan Walters on the issue: We need to start recording ALL interrogations, stop the abuse of the criminal justice system, and ALWAYS blame the cop first if the bad guy confesses, gets convicted or if Grandma gets tazed because she failed to follow a lawful order and resisted arrest. Juries and ESPECIALLY the public…

Alcohol Abuse on Rise Among Soldiers June 20, 2009 Agence France-Presse Nearly twice as many US Army Soldiers today compared to six years ago are either alcoholic or engage in damaging behavior such as binge drinking, according to army statistics. Data shows more than 11 Soldiers per 1,000 were diagnosed as suffering from alcoholism or…

United States v. Lindsey, the dishonorable failure to pay just debt case is now on line. While prosecution in this case seems reasonable, I’m always concerned when the military begins to act as a debt collection agency. United States v. Daniel, is an unpublished opinion about admission without objection of a photograph. Appellant now contends…

United States v. Marshall, __ M.J. ___ (C.A.A.F. 2009). This is a fatal variance case. Appellant pled not guilty to escaping from the custody of Captain (CPT) Kreitman but was convicted, by exceptions and substitutions, of escaping from the custody of Staff Sergeant (SSG) Fleming. We granted review to consider whether the military judge’s findings…

Coast Guard O-6 convicted of cocaine use.