When the government does not like the decision of a Court of Criminal Appeals–because it favors the Appellant, the Government has an automatic “appeal.” It’s called certifying the issue. This is an example of unfairness and discrimination in the appellate process which military defense lawyers are well aware of. So, how does that work. The…
Continue reading ›On December 6, 2023, the Secretary of the Army, Ms. Christine Wormuth, fired Brigadier General (BG) Warren Wells, the Army’s chief prosecutor and head of the Office of the Special Trial Counsel (OSTC), for an email he had sent ten years prior while in a defense counsel role. This firing demonstrates that no military defense…
Continue reading ›NMCCA has released a number of decisions. Several have providency issues and issues not raised by appellate counsel. United States v. Messias. The court set-aside a finding of guilty to because of an inadequate providence inquiry. No sentence relief granted. While the providence inquiry establishes facts sufficient to demonstrate that the appellant drove on base…
Continue reading ›Army Times reports: A Fort Wainwright soldier is under investigation for allegedly posting a video on his Facebook site showing Iraqi children being taunted. Navy Times reports: A 400-cell military brig is being constructed near Naval Station Norfolk to consolidate Navy and Marine prisons closing in Virginia and North Carolina. . . intended for Navy…
Continue reading ›ACCA has issued an opinion in United States v. Trigueros, 68 M.J. ___ (A. Ct. Crim. App. 2010). [Post updated to address a CAAFLog point, to add some links, and try to fix some formatting.] This case involves the common problem of discovery of a victims mental health records. There are two troubling aspects to…
Continue reading ›CAAF has decided two cases related to Abu Ghraib: United States v. Harman, and United States v. Smith. The issue in Harman was factual sufficiency and the conviction and sentence was affirmed. Appellant admitted to investigators that she took a new detainee, who had been placed on a box with a hood over his head,…
Continue reading ›Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today that he has forwarded recommendations to the Army for disciplinary action against supervisors of the accused Ft. Hood shooter. The LA Times reports. The report recommends clarifying for unit commanders their responsibility in identifying people who could pose a threat. Unit commanders, according to the report, must become…
Continue reading ›CAAFLog has this case among the Top-10 for 2009. Vicki Behenna has 10 minutes to plead her son’s case. Where does she begin? In the last few months, she has developed hours of arguments about why U.S. Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna was wrongly convicted of killing a suspected terrorist in Iraq in 2008, why…
Continue reading ›The Fall of a Black Army Officer: Racism & the Myth of Henry O. Flipper, by Charles M. Robinson III, Norman, Ok: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008. In his 1994 book The Court-Martial of Lieutenant Henry Flipper, Robinson, an historian of the frontier army, held to the view that Flipper?s 1881 conviction for embezzlement was…
Continue reading ›Will Major Hasan successfully use PTSD as a defense, or will it at least become a mitigating factor to be considered. If the trial is at Fort Hood, as seems likely at the moment, many of the Members (jury) panel will already have quite a bit of extra-judicial information. Here are some links relating to…
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