Court-Martial Trial Practice

We do a lot of military sexual assault cases with alcohol involved. It is not unusual for a complaining witness to claim they were drunk, blacked out and didn’t consent. First, if blacked out they can’t know they didn’t consent–it’s impossible if they were blacked out, rather than them exhibiting a convenient and selective memory.…

Military and civilian counsel military cases is bound by Service rules of professional responsibility as well as their bar. The military RPC are based on the ABA Model Rules. Thus, ABA interpretations can be meaningful and helpful. What do you do with the client file when the case is over? This past July, the ABA…

Several relevant items for you this weekend. Orin Kerr has this post at The Volokh Conspiracy. In part: Computer searches usually happen in two stages. Agents take the computer, make a mirror image copy of its hard drive on a government storage device, and then search the image. Officers do this to ensure the integrity…

The NMCCA has issued an interesting published opinion on a government appeal. United States v. Rios. From the opinion. The appellee is currently facing trial by special court-martial on numerous charges regarding larceny from the Marine Corps Exchange (MCX) on Camp Pendleton, California. He is alleged to have conspired with his wife to commit larceny[.]…

I posted the other day about Latorre v. FCI Elkton. A colleague who’s thoughts I value very highly had some things to say. Unfortunately LaTorrehandled his matter pro se and didn’t do it well, and so, got the “canned” decision that circulated some years back out of the federal judicial center. Just as unfortunate, it…

Worth-the-read is A PRELIMINARY DRAFT OF Proposed Amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and the Federal Rules of Evidence, is the source for the ABA article I just posted about ancient documents. There is another proposal in the Draft relevant to technology. The drafters are suggesting changing FRE 902, which as we know…

The abundance of electronically stored documents is spurring a committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference to propose abolishing the “ancient documents” rule. The rule—803(16) of the Federal Rules of Evidence—allows the admission of documents that would usually be banned as hearsay if the documents are at least 20 years old and appear authentic. The National…

Some may remember United States v. Latorre, No. ACM 34670 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. 3 April, 2002), 64 M.J. 80 (C.A.A.F. 2006). The case had something of a tortured appellate history, ultimately leading to a habeas corpus petition in federal court. See Background, at p.1. Like the mythical Phoenix, Latorre sought to get some lift…

The problem is that the CCA’s don’t do that enough. But at least they have the power. In United States v. Quick: The underlying issue is whether Article 66(d), UCMJ, authorizes the CCAs to order sentence-only rehearings. The government argues that the CCAs do not have that authority and asks that we overrule this court’s…

Amici are former federal prosecutors and senior Justice Department and government officials who have dedicated many years of service to the criminal justice system and have a continuing interest in preserving the fair and effective administration of criminal trials.2 As such, amici understand the duty of prosecutors “to seek justice within the bounds of the…