Court-Martial Trial Practice

United States v. Crabtree, No. 08-4411, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 10720(4th Cir. May 19, 2009). In a published opinion the Fourth Circuit sides with the majority of federal circuit courts of appeal that there is no government “clean hands” exception to the receipt into evidence of unlawfully taped telephone calls. Daniel Crabtree was sentenced to…

Here is Prof. Colin Miller’s comment on United States v. Yammine, decided by the NMCCA recently. Does Child Pornography=Child Molestation?: Military Court Finds Child Pornography Evidence Was Properly Admitted As Character Evidence

David Kocieniewski, Lawyer’s Ways Spelled Murder, U.S. Is Charging, NY Times, 20 May 2009. He spent a decade as a top prosecutor, trying murder cases in New Jersey, drug cases in federal court and a wide range of offenses in the military justice system. He went on to become one of the state’s most prominent…

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Repeal, Don’t Defend: In today’s WSJ, Brian Hughes, a former Army Ranger twice awarded the Commendation Medal, makes a powerful case for ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Volokh Conspiracy.

Last week saw the exoneration of the 132nd person from death row since 1973. Paul House, who was on death row for 22 years and was scheduled for a new hearing, was exonerated after a DNA test proved he was not the perpetrator of the murder he was convicted of in 1986. Daniel Wade Moore…

CAAF has decided United States v. Collier, __ M.J. ___ (C.A.A.F. 2009). This case presents the question whether the military judge erred in granting the government’s motion in limine prohibiting Appellant’s defense counsel from cross-examining HM2 C, the main Government witness, about an alleged homosexual romantic relationship between her and Appellant and from introducing any…

Welcome to the real world. Earl Kelly, Academy Justice Tilted Toward Women: Double Standard in Mid Sex Cases During Rempt Era, The (Annapolis) Capital, 17 May 2009. This issue is not limited to the Naval Academy. This is a natural all too predictable outcome of the pendulum shift. But the pendulum can swing too far,…

Here is a good case offered by Prof. Colin Miller, Under Construction: Ninth Circuit Resolves Interplay Between Rules Of Evidence 608 And 609, 17 May 2009. As the 9th and Professor Miller note this was a close issue. And here is another treatment of the case at FederalEvidence.blog,“Collateral Details” Of The Defendant’s Prior Conviction Results…

Here is the Federal Register for CAAF rule changes.

Wisconsin (five days before Weaver) finds GPS tracking reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, but it is troubled by it and urges the legislature to limit it. State v. Sveum, 2009 Wisc. App. LEXIS 343 (May 7, 2009). FourthAmendment blog.