Court-Martial Trial Practice

Thanks to Prof. Berman at Sentencing Law 7 Policy who directs us to Murray, Brian, Are Collateral Consequences Deserved? (January 29, 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract= I have a standard sex offender registration motion that I use in all cases in which a sex offense is charged and if convicted the client will have to…

SECNAVINST 5720.42G, 15 January 2019.

On appeal, Appellant asserts three assignments of error: (1) whether Appellant is entitled to sentence relief due to the conditions of her post-trial confinement; (2) whether Appellant is entitled to relief because the Staff Judge Advocate’s Recommendation (SJAR) failed to address alleged legal errors; and (3) whether the approved sentence is unduly harsh as compared…

Advising a client on SOR is difficult. They want specific answers and often you can’t give them more than general advice. There are several points I try to make with clients. Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), specifically includes certain…

I have always argued for full and early discovery in court-martial cases. How can you defend someone when discovery is delayed or held-back. And how can you make a properly considered judgment on a PTA or not. “The Right to Evidence of Innocence Before Pleading Guilty,” on SSRN. Here is the abstract: George Alvarez, a…

Christopher B. Mueller, Laird C. Kirkpatrick and Liesa Richter (University of Colorado Law School, George Washington University – Law School and University of Oklahoma – College of Law) have posted two entries from their new book, Evidence §3.13 (6th ed. Wolters Kluwer 2018), on SSRN. The first is §3.13 ‘Presumptions’ in Criminal Cases. Here is…

Be careful of who you talk to if you are in trouble. I think it’s fair to say that CAAF has narrowed the who and when requirement for an Article 31, UCMJ, warning, as illustrated in a recent Air Force case. Thus, Article 31(b), UCMJ, warnings are required when (1) a person subject to the…

The answer is possibly, but it requires some very specific analysis using the Reynolds test. The Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals has decided United States v. Hyppolite, II, where this issue arose. In this case, the prosecution sought to use evidence of different allegations of a sexual offense to show that, “Appellant’s conduct admitted…

On occasion, a military judge will make a clemency recommendation. In United States v. Coleman, the military judge did just that. “that the convening authority or any other authority has the authority to dismiss Specification 2 of Charge V, I recommend that such authority dismiss Specification 2 of Charge V.” The defense raised this in…

Some years ago the AFCCA decided several cases in which it “held” that the CAAF erred in applicable decisions and effectively “overrule” the CAAF. CAAF, of course, told the AFCCA that they cannot overrule the CAAF and should follow CAAF’s decision. Now it seems the Army Court of Criminal Appeals may be doing something similar;…