Court-Martial Trial Practice

Here is an interesting opinion from the Sixth about the reasonable expectation of privacy in items transmitted or available through Limewire (or similar P2P programs). There is none, compared to other ways stuff gets onto a computer – in the Sixth. Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in his computer from police accessing it…

Well, the military has a sort of probation, but it’s not well formalized. Suspending a sentence is a form of unsupervised probation. Maybe some more detailed supervision would be appropriate. No reason a commander can’t do that already – conditions on suspending punishment. Also, the Services – well the Air Force and Army used to…

I follow Prof. Colin Miller’s EvidenceProf blog daily. Didn’t realize it until now, but his “work” is available in eBooks for Legal Education. This is a product from the Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction, and some of it appears to be free.

Here is an interesting opinion regarding expert testimony in DNA examinations. Young v. United States, in the DC Court of Appeals.

I sometimes cringe when the circumstantial evidence instruction is given about waking up and the grass is wet. In some neighborhoods, all that means is that people’s lawn sprinklers have been on during the night or early morning, not that it rained in the night. Sometimes I make that point to be careful about the…

Here is a piece by two titans of science in the courtr00m, with due deference to my former evidence professor, Paul Gianelli. Confronting Science: Expert Evidence and the Confrontation Clause Jennifer Mnookin University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) – School of Law David H. Kaye Penn State Law February 23, 2013 Supreme Court Review, Forthcoming…

The ever pithy Prof. Colin Miller has an excellent post about issues under Mil. R. Evid. 1004. The best evidence rule is now in Mil. R. Evid. 1004. The rule requires originals, not and/or, unless the original is lost or destroyed. So, when you object make that distinction clear. Prosecutors and military judges often conflate…

Anything by Prof. Leo is well worth the read. Leo on Interrogation Contamination Richard A. Leo (University of San Francisco – School of Law) has posted Why Interrogation Contamination Occurs (Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The problem of police interrogation contamination (disclosing or leaking of non-public facts)…

Occasionally the prosecution wants to use court records, There is an evidentiary exception that can apply. But, what about the Confrontation Clause? Federalevidence review has a post on that. Eighth Circuit reverses conviction for being an accessory after the fact by assisting another (Clark) in avoiding apprehension for committing a murder based on Confrontation Clause…

The general rule is that you are stuck with the record on appeal and can’t supplement it with new or additional facts. There are however some limited exceptions to the general rule for items of appellate judicial notice. Here is a short piece discussing some of the exceptions. An example from military appeals: The ACCA…