Court-Martial Trial Practice

Posted on September 2, 2018 by Hall on his excellent blog. To get a search warrant for home surveillance equipment, the affidavit for the warrant has to show some inference or fact that there is, in fact, one to be found there. The mere fact they are a lot cheaper these days isn’t enough to…

Posted on September 1, 2018 by Hall on his excellent blog. The court finds that “the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule does not apply here. Contrary to the government’s assertion, this case directly fits the Supreme Court’s admonition in Leon that ‘[s]uppression … remains an appropriate remedy if the magistrate or judge in…

This case is before us for a fourth time. The petitioner, a former service member, seeks extraordinary relief from this court in the nature of a writ of error coram nobis or, in the alternative, in the nature of a writ of audita querela, under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a). The petitioner…

I confess to confusion about the post-trial actions of a convening authority. When I first began trials in 1980 the right to clemency was robust and generally, the CA could do just about anything. I’m seeing more recent cases with an issue about what can and can’t be done by the CA. Congress significantly changed…

While doing some research on Wegner’s Ironic Process Theory, I came across this case–Volkmer v. United States, 13 F.2d 594 (6th Cir. 1926). The other ground presents a more serious question. It is based on the concluding argument of the assistant district attorney, during which the following occurred: “Assistant District Attorney: A skunk is always…

USNI news reports https://news.usni.org/2018/08/09/navy-to-retire-poor-performing-senior-commanders-and-captains Read NAVADMIN 193/18 NOTICE OF CONVENING FY-19 ACTIVE-DUTY NAVY COMMANDER AND CAPTAIN SELECTIVE EARLY RETIREMENT BOARDS Readers will be aware of the attention given to senior Navy officers who are getting in trouble for misconduct or poor performance. The collision cases may also be a factor behind the following initiative. With…

As this case demonstrates, the novelty of an assimilative charging decision under Article 134 often wears off during the course of an appeal, Says ACCA in a footnote to United States v. Meredith, 7 August 2018. Specification 1 of Charge II alleged appellant violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 10 U.S.C. § 1030,…

From friend BW. State commission calls blood-spatter testimony in murder case ‘not … scientifically supported’ By Pamela Colloff, ProPublica, July 24, 201 An influential state commission said the blood-spatter analysis used to convict a former Texas high school principal of murdering his wife in 1985 was “not accurate or scientifically supported” and the expert who…

Navy Times reports the NMCCA decision in United States v. Saugen. “Ensign Joseph P. Saugen, 26, remains in San Diego’s Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar serving a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to two specifications of possessing child pornography and another for distributing the illicit videos.” In Saugen, the Appellant executed a pretrial agreement. One of…

For the past two years, the Defense Security Service (DSS) has been advising security officers to submit periodic reinvestigations for Tier 5 (Top Secret) investigations at the 6 year mark, rather than 5 years. The move was an effort to reduce the growing security clearance backlog, and allow the National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB) to…