Court-Martial Trial Practice

[D]istrict courts generally enjoy a fair amount of discretion in choosing the procedures they find most helpful for resolving pretrial motions, including whether to take the matter on the briefs, hear oral argument, or hold an evidentiary hearing. And often enough courts will choose to err on the side of granting more process than might…

Marquette University Law School will host oral arguments for the court martial appeal of a U.S. Air Force sergeant accused of sexually assaulting two girls and endangering his baby son. So says the Wisconsin Bar Journal. Here is an link to a preview by a colleague. I will be appearing along with Captain John Legg,…

The question is often asked of me–can we win on appeal, will the appellate courts give a fair hearing and review. In United States v. Soto, the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals (AFCCA) reviewed the factual sufficiency of appellant’s conviction for rape and any lesser included offenses. A military judge accepted the appellant’s pleas…

A sophisticated employer knows how to interpret the numbers and language in the DD214. The codes are easily findable on the internet. This creates an issue with coding for early separation due to draw-down measures. So the following came over the transom. DD 214 SEPARATION PROGRAM DESIGNATOR NARRATIVE The DD Form 214, which is issued…

On 28 January 2015, DoD issued an instruction (DODI 1304.33) protecting against inappropriate relationships during recruiting and entry level training. Paragraph 1.a.(1)(k) of Enclosure (3) of this instruction expressly prohibits recruiters and trainers providing entry level training from soliciting donations from a recruit or trainee. Apparently there have been questions concerning the impact of this…

I am for (and against) the SVC program. I am mostly for it because it is necessary. Over the years and prior to the Air Force start there were regulations in place that required the trial counsel to inform the “victim” of what was happening in the case and get their input. The trial counsel…

A couple of items have come across the transom today which are worth the read to military practitioners. James E. Baker, Is Military Justice Sentencing on the March? Should it be? And if so, Where should it Head? Court-Martial Sentencing Process, Practice, and Issues, Fed. Sentencing Rep. Dec. 2014, at 72-87. This items comes from…

When [persnonnel] hear nothing but one side of controversial issues for their entire time[], what you have is not true education but Maoist indoctrination in the guise of education. When the academic consensus on any issue with political overtones can be predicted with 100% certainty merely by identifying the Politically Correct position, the consensus no…

There is a conflict of opinion concerning the authority of this Court to reassess sentences. The language of Article 66(c), UCMJ, its legislative history, and the decision of the Supreme Court in Jackson v. Taylor, 353 U.S. 569, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1045, 77 S. Ct. 1027 (1957), give this Court the responsibility and unfettered…

The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals recently, in United States v. D.W.B., __ M.J. ___ (N-M Ct. Crim. App. 2015), had to decide “a complex and controversial topic: the admissibility of a witness’s testimony regarding memories recovered through a psychotherapeutic approach known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).” Slip op. at 2. BLUF:…