Court-Martial Trial Practice

Here is another resource via the Office of Defender Services, Legal, Policy & Training Division, Administrative Office of the Courts, Washington, DC. Immigration consequences of conviction.

A little off topic, but I thought sufficiently interesting for a military justice audience. Martha Neil, DOJ Files USERRA Suit Against Indiana Law Firm, ABA Journal Law News Now, 16 March 2009. Referenced is another: Matthew Whittle, lawsuit involving braswell and former magistrate settled, Goldsboro News-Argus (on-line), 8 March 2009).

Yes, this is a story of some naval police who sued the DON for using real live “pepper” spray to have realistic training. It’s possible these are civilian police employed by DON.

Here are several articles of some interest. Roger P. Alford, International or Foreign Law as an Interpretive Aid in Supreme Court Jurisprudence, 9(3) Engage 79 (October 2008). Tom Gede, Kent Scheidegger, Fon Rychlak, The Supreme Court’s 21st Century Trajectory in Criminal Cases, 9(3) Engage 44 (October 2008). David E. Bernstein, The Unfinished Daubert Revolution, 10(1)…

Rule 1102. Amendments. Amendments to the Federal Rules of Evidence shall apply to the Military Rules of Evidence 18 months after the effective date of such amendments, unless action to the contrary is taken by the President. On September 19, 2008, Fed. R. Evid. 502, a new evidence rule concerning the attorney-client privilege and work-product…

It app-ears that ear print comparisons have been advocated as a method of identifying a perpetrator. But, it app-ears that the British courts are giving the so-called expert an earful of doubt. Andre A. Moenssens, Another Ear Print Conviction Reversed! (Prof. Moenssens is one of several law professors to follow on issues of forensics and…

There may be a legitimate question that the Intoxlyzer 5000 does discriminate against African-Americans. This test is in use throughout much of DoD. It seems at least worth researching and filing a Houser motion in regard to this technology if your client is African-American, and perhaps if the client is a woman. See United States…

In considering whether conduct of a private citizen is subject to the Fourth Amendment, our court considers “whether the government had knowledge of and acquiesced in the intrusive conduct; whether the citizen intended to assist law enforcement agents or instead acted to further his own purposes; and whether the citizen acted at the government’s request.”…

“In Internet ‘sting’ cases such as this,” the issue of “what a defendant’s state of mind was immediately prior to his contact with a sexual target purporting to be a minor is routinely a serious point of contention. We call the issue one of ‘predisposition,’ and it is primarily a question of fact.” United States…

United States v. Smither, No. 09-3-KSF, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17231 (E.D. Ky. March 6, 2009), is worth the read for a refresher on challenging search warrants because the information is stale. Those of us who have tried are well aware that it’s almost impossible to have a child pornography warrant suppressed for staleness. The…