Court-Martial Trial Practice

The Center for Military Readiness has this “report.” Air Force Gen. John Hyten, nominated to become Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has become the face of injustice done to military personnel who encounter unproved allegations of sexual assault. Accusations that cannot be substantiated are unjust and often career-ending, but they are not…

Corteen & Stelle, A Criminal Injustice System? Sex Offender Suspects and Defendants. 39 LIVERPOOL L. REV. 265 (2018). Abstract The purpose of this paper is to open up a discussion regarding the potential shift from the presumption of innocence to a presumption of guilt regarding those suspected of or charged with sexual offending. It is…

Elisabetta Grande (2009) “Dances of Justice: Tango and Rumba in Comparative Criminal Procedure,” Global Jurist: Vol. 9: Iss. 4 (Frontiers), Article 6. Available at: http://www.bepress.com/gj/vol9/iss4/art6 Ms. Grande some interesting reading comparing the judicial process we experience in common law countries and the experiences of lawyers in Continental Europe. More than thirty years ago, Professor Damaška…

Tales of the Tipsy Coachman: Being Right for the Wrong Reason – The Tipsy Coachman is Alive and Well and Living in Florida

Ooops. When you object to something you are asking that the members not hear a piece of testimony or see a piece of evidence–right? Right? So why then do you let the Trial Counsel (or defense counsel) discuss that with the military judge in front of the members? I see this on a regular basis…

From Prof. Doug Berman’s excellent Sentencing Law & Policy. Four+ years ago as noted in this post, the US Supreme Court issued a short per curiam summary reversals in Grady v. North Carolina, No. 14-593 (S. Ct. March 30, 2015) (available here), in which the Court clarified and confirmed that the Fourth Amendment is applicable…

A couple of interesting items from John Wesley Hall’s excellent Fourth Amendment blog. Without something to go on, the court declines to ascribe a supposed error in an address as a mere typo. Moreover, the affidavit fails to provide any nexus to defendant and the place to be searched, and the good faith exception is…

Rossmo, Kim and Pollock, Joycelyn, Confirmation Bias and Other Systemic Causes of Wrongful Convictions: A Sentinel Events Perspective (June 28, 2019). Northeastern University Law Review, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2019. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3413922. Tokson, Matthew J., The Emerging Principles of Fourth Amendment Privacy (July 23, 2019). George Washington Law Review, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN:…

Going through some old files I came across the Excerpts from a letter which the Powell Committee recommended The Judge Advocate General of the Army send to officers newly appointed as general court-martial convening authorities. (Committee on the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Good Order and Discipline in the Army: Report to Honorable Wilber M.…

Here is something from good friend Don Rehkopf as a reminder to defense counsel. 1) For anyone representing a client with Art. 120, offenses that will trigger a Dismissal or DD upon conviction; or 2) Anyone representing a client where there may be a chance of being sentenced to a Dismissal or DD; To avoid…