Court-Martial Trial Practice

Army Lawyer, March 2009.

I take some back, almost. Again I was looking at the NKO Criminal Law Division’s practice tips and I came across this one dealing with the ““Blackout” defense to alcohol facilitated sexual assault.” No, it’s not. This title implies that the accused has deliberately gotten the complaining witness drunk. This is not the case in…

Jayme Evans, JAG Corps “Keistered” Justice In Foster Case, Canadian Free Press, 20 April 2009. No military prosecutions in recent history have garnered as much negative publicity for the U.S. Marines as have the cases of the Marines of 3/1 Kilo Company, ambushed in Haditha, Iraq, in November of 2005. But the wrongful conviction and…

Here’s an interesting Order published at Goodfellow AFB, which prohibits military personnel assigned to the 17th Training Wing from traveling to certain parts of Mexico. [T]he border areas of Mexico, including Tijuana, Nogales, Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Acuna, Piedras Negras, and Reynosa/Matamoros. All active duty members, reservists and guardsmen in Title 10 status, attached to the…

Here is an interesting piece from Karen Franklin on her blog. Here is Edward Humes, Guilt by the Numbers, California Lawyer, April 2009. This should not be an issue in most military cases because there’s usually an identified suspect. But it’s interesting to see, once again, how law enforcement and prosecution control of the crime…

The hideous nature of an offender’s conduct must not drive us to forget that it is not severe punishment that promotes respect for the law, it is appropriate punishment. Although there are clearly times when anything less than severe punishment undermines respect for the law, it is just as certain that unduly severe punishment can…

The prosecution of Senator Stevens highlighted problems with prosecutors who don’t comply with their Brady-plus obligations. Here’s another one. New Trial Granted Because of Prosecutor Misconduct: Mike Scarcella writes at Blog of the Legal Times that a D.C. Superior Court judge has granted a new trial to a man convicted of fatally stabbing another man…

Here is an interesting bit from Crime & Consequences blog. Reprimanded for Delayed Ruling: At Sentencing Law and Policy, Doug Berman posts an excerpt from a Memphis Commercial Appeal article describing the public reprimand of a Shelby County Criminal Court judge for taking more than seven years to rule on a death penalty appeal. According…

Haven’t noted something on technology for a while, so here is a piece by the American Constitution Society (the antithesis of the Federalist Society). Susan Freiwald, Phone Tracking Should Require a Warrant. A pending case in the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals raises a profound question — should the government be able to track…

Colin Miller, Thieves Like Them: Court Of Appeals Of Minnesota Explains The Boundaries Of Proper Prosecutorial Comment During Closing, 17 April 2009. It is well established that a prosecutor may not belittle or disparage the defendant(‘s case) during closing argument. At the same time, “[a] prosecutor has discretion to fashion a persuasive closing argument, and…