Court-Martial Trial Practice

By regulation (the U.S. Navy Regulations and the Navy’s Standard Organization and Regulations Manual (SORM), OPNAVINST 3120.32x,), the Navy required personnel to report having been arrested or prosecutions for criminal acts by civilian authorities. In United States v. Serianne, 68 M.J.580 (N.M.Ct.Crim.App. 2009), aff’d, 69 M.J. 8 (C.A.A.F. 2010). the courts found the order unlawful,…

You are an enlisted person. 1. You are reduced at Art. 15 from E-6 to E-5, you retire as an E-5. What rank is your retirement check based on and how is it calculated. Assume you came on active duty after 1 September 1980. 2. You are reduced at special court-martial from E-9 to E-6,…

Prof. Colin Miller has an interesting post about prosecutorial discretion during the course of trial. Besides getting a conviction and an appropriate sentence, a secondary gain of the prosecutor is to have the case affirmed on appeal. Affirmance means a guilty person doesn’t walk or get a new trial. In the post Prof. Miller refers…

Senator Gillibrand is not happy. Here is one of her unsubstantiated complaints. I am quite sure that some of those committing sex offenses have done so before, and with predatory behavior. But casting the vast majority of he said/she said cases as predatory men assaulting angelic waifs who can’t care for themselves is sexist and…

Human lie detector’s not admissible, still, a strong circuit trend. This is consistent with military appellate case law. With expert testimony admitted on a wide range of issues under FRE 702, what limits are there to expert testimony on the credibility of the defendant? As noted by the Tenth Circuit, a consensus in disallowing this…

With the ongoing politics surrounding sexual assault in the military, and whether the commander should remain as the disciplinary decision maker, the AF has done an interesting review of (convictions). After a spate of sex-related incidents last year, the Air Force reviewed all courts-martial from the previous three years — more than 2,400 cases —…

Last Words: A Survey and Analysis of Federal Judges’ Views on Allocution in Sentencing Mark W. Bennett U.S. District Court (Northern District of Iowa) Ira P. Robbins American University – Washington College of Law March 10, 2014 Alabama Law Review, Vol. 65, No. 3, 2014 American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2014-9 Abstract: Allocution —…

Congress continues to tinker, rather than take a complete overview and make rational change to the UCMJ – the politics continue. Meanwhile, we have to deal with the gruel they dish out. So, keep an eye on any changes to the statute of limitations for various sex related offenses. AND, keep an eye on any…

What the witness sees and remembers is a function of many factors specific to that witness and the crime scene: the witnesses ability to see without glasses, the absence of any lighting at night. What complicates matters is the deliberate or unintentional police actions (and actions of others – see ‘memory conformity’ issues). The American…

There appear to be ten fairly consistent reasons for a wrongful conviction, according to a NIJ researcher. In his series of pods Dr. Gould discusses the reasons (transcripts are available at the pod). I often, always, talk about confirmation bias in connection with military sexual assault investigations, through the 32, and through the referral process,…