Court-Martial Trial Practice

Since United States v. Hills, and then United States v. Hukill, the appellate courts have been trying to sort out quite a few cases on remand. Here is a list of the most recent CAAF actions. No. 18-0087/AF. U.S. v. Jonathan P. Robertson. CCA 39061. On consideration of the petition for grant of review of…

Go to Army publications After a lengthy absence from the general public, the following are now, again, available to the public. (ACCA decisions are still not available. Army Lawyer. See, Lore of Corps, Special Edition, here. There is an interesting short piece on “Command Influence ‘Back in the Day.’ Consequently, The Adjutant General wrote that…

SCOTUSBlog reports a petition of the day is: Campanelli v. Illinois, 17-1225 Issue: Whether the Sixth Amendment right to conflict-free counsel forbids multiple attorneys in a single public defender’s office from concurrently representing non-consenting, adverse co-defendants. Keep this in mind because this is a potential problem for ALL military defense counsel offices. For some reason…

We have a new book worth the read to litigators facing child assault allegations with Shaken Baby Syndrome “evidence.” Randy Papetti, The Forensic Unreliability of the Shaken Baby Syndrome: The Book. Arizona trial attorney Randy Papetti has brought nearly 20 years of experience and research to his valuable new analysis of shaken baby theory in…

According to SCOTBlog: The question of how to count the votes of the justices to decide who won a Supreme Court case – and on what ground – when the court is splintered has baffled lower courts for years. The rule laid out in Marks v. United States purports to answer that question: “When a…

Task Force Purple Harbor, a joint NCIS-led Task Force, stood up immediately following Marines United during March 2017, has identified six special courts-martial which have adjudicated cases related to the actual, attempted, or threatened nonconsensual distribution of intimate images. Of note, three of the cases summarized below occurred prior to the substantial measures undertaken by…

Of interest to military justice practitioners is a new grant of certiorari at the U. S. Supreme Court today. SCOTUSBlog reports: Okechuku v. United States, No. 17-1130 Issues: Whether, and under what circumstances, the erroneous submission of a deliberate-ignorance instruction is harmless error. From the petition of Appellant. Prosecutors routinely request, and district courts routinely…

As we see frequently, texts and messages on cellphones can be important evidence in a case. Most of the time the MCIO’s merely got the CW to provide a screenshot and otherwise cherry-pick what they want to take as evidence in the beginning. Of course the cherry-picking is in favor of the CW and they…

A year ago an O-4 client was accused of various physical assaults on his son over an eight-year period. He faced two charges with a total of 10 specifications. Prior to trial we were able to identify very helpful information about the credibility of the allegations, despite there being medical evidence and prosecution expert testimony.…

We all know that military defense counsel is required to advise a client of potential sex offender registration issues since United States v. Miller, 63 M.J. 452, 458-59 (C.A.A.F. 2006). With that in mind, United States v. Toth, No. 201700014 (NMCCA 28 February 2018) is worth the read. In Toth, the appellant alleged he was…