Court-Martial Trial Practice

Personally, from experience, I’m not sure they do. However, Judge Emmett Sullivan, of the D.C. for D.C. doesn’t think so. Here is an item on The BLT: The Blog of LegalTimes, Judge Threatens Justice Lawyers With Contempt Over Detainee Documents, 13 March 2009. So-called Brady rules require prosecutors to hand over information to defense attorneys…

Here is an interesting CAAF grant in a Coast Guard case. No. 08-0719/CG. U.S. v. Webster M. SMITH. CCA 1275. Review granted on the following issue: WHETHER THE MILITARY JUDGE VIOLATED APPELLANT’S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO CONFRONT HIS ACCUSERS BY LIMITING HIS CROSS-EXAMINATION OF [SR], THE GOVERNMENT’S ONLY WITNESS, ON THREE OF THE FIVE CHARGES. Appellant…

Kevin Maurer, Wounded soldier’s care probed, FayObserver.com, 11 March 2009. If this report is believed, injured and wounded soldiers in medical holding company’s are disciplined at a higher rate than line company’s. Apparently, it is not an excuse for a failure to go that your prescribed medication for you injury or illness causes you to…

Two new CAAF cases have been put up on the website. United States v. Stephens, __ M.J. ___ (C.A.A.F. Mar. 12, 2009). The prosecution called the victims father to talk about the effect the trial had on her. Appellant, citing United States v. Mobley, 31 M.J. 273 (C.M.A. 1990), United States v. Carr, 25 M.J.…

Background on the DP (courtesy of CAAFLog): Since the military death penalty was reinstated in 1984, there have been 15 known military death sentences. Two were set aside in the initial CA’s action. Eight have been set aside on direct appeal. In three of those cases, retrials or resentencing proceedings are still in their very…

Here is one for the what was he thinking category. Eugene Volokh, Lawyer Disbarred for Switching Vote as a Juror Solely in Order To Return To His Busy Law Practice, 11 March 2009. And what else was he thinking? Of course, if Fahy had only remained quiet about his true motivation (something he initially revealed…

Drew Brooks, Kreutzer enters guilty plea, no longer faces death penalty, FayObserver.com, 11 March 2009. Some observations (on the article, and assuming the article is correct). There is no word in the article about how the family is taking this and what role they did or did not play in the negotiations. As we’ve discussed…

Every so often do you get a file and you can’t open it? Check its file extension. The file extension comes at the end of the name of the file and is [dot].bz, and is a key to the name of the software program that created the file. .bz If you go to OpenWith.org you…

Every now and again a client wants to object to giving a DNA sample once at the Brig. Objections based on religion, the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment, won’t work. Pursuant to congressional authorization, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) established the Combined DNA Index System (“CODIS”), a national database containing…

This issue of journalists and privilege — and considerations of a Shield Law — is not new to military practice. A proposed privilege is circulating around Congress and other high offices. Here is a piece by Prof. Colin Miller of Evidence Prof Blog, writing this time for the Yale Law Journal’s Pocket Part — A…