Court-Martial Trial Practice

We previously commented on an issue of voodoo science, and more on voodoo science, and the National Research Counsel report on the future of forensics. The promoters of this piece of voodoo — a voice stress analyser — convinced law enforcement to fund and buy their expensive machine and methods for using voice stresses to…

Norman C. Bay, Old Blood, Bad Blood, and Youngblood: Due Process, Lost Evidence, and The Limits of Bad Faith, 86:2 Washington Univ. L. Rev. (2008). Major General Charles J. Dunlap, Jr. & Major Linell A. Letendre, Military Lawyering and Professional Independence in the War on Terror: A Response to David Luban, 61:2 Stanford L. Rev.…

Here is the intro from Kent Scheidegger of CrimeandConsequences blog. To refute the notion that freedom of speech or the press is absolute, a common device is to cite a hypothetical of spoken or written words that everyone with sense would agree can be prohibited. The most famous is Justice Holmes’s example in Schenk v.…

CAAF issued an opinion today in United States v. Von Bergen, The granted issue was: WHETHER THE MILITARY JUDGE ERRED WHEN HE HELD APPELLANT’S WAIVER OF HIS ARTICLE 32 RIGHTS FOR HIS 20 SEPTEMBER 2001 COURT-MARTIAL APPLIED TO HIS 23 OCTOBER 2006 REHEARING. BLUF: We hold that the military judge erred in denying Appellant an…

Here’s a good reminder from Jon Katz and his blog. After practicing criminal defense for many years, a lawyer can get jaded by some of the more cockamamie-sounding urgings from clients, including the absence of fingerprints when ten witnesses and five videocameras caught the double-killing, and the shooting defendant was then tackled and held until…

From CrimeandConsequences blog. For the second time in two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the mandate of the Florida Supreme Court in a criminal case on the application of the state. Last week’s order in Florida v. Rigterink is here. Today’s order in Florida v. Powell is here. The Powell opinion, followed in…

Gray v. Gray, No. 08-3289-RDR (D.C. Kan. April 1, 2009). An ironic twist that the current commandant at the USDB is Colonel Gray. A little history. Private Gray’s convictions and death sentence became final on July 28, 2008, when the President approved his death sentence. On August 14, 2008, the Secretary of the Army signed…

There has been something of a stir recently about jurors texting and twittering while court is in session. Here another interesting tale of the kind of shenanigans civilian jurors get up to. We first consider Basham’s argument that the district court should have granted his motion for a new trial after learning that the jury…

Thanks to CAAFLog for this link to the Air ForceTimes article on Colonel Murphy’s conviction by a members panel. Here’s an ABA article, same theme. Stephanie Francis Ward, Catch Me if You Can, ABA Journal Magazine online, April 2009.

Many accused, with halting eloquence, effectively demonstrate remorse and plead for leniency, while others squander the opportunity by engaging in malevolent recriminations and remorseless refusals to accept responsibility. The wisdom or folly that an accused evinces in deciding what to say in an unsworn statement does not diminish his or her right to say it.…