For various reasons the issue of homosexuality and DADT has been in the news for a while. The results of the various surveys to servicemembers and familys are still pending. Tomorrow, NMCCA will hear oral argument in United States v. Hayes: I. WHETHER THE MILITARY JUDGE’S COMMENTS ON THE RECORD AND DURING THE “BRIDGING THE…
Continue reading ›In the United States v. Jones the facts cited by the court show a consent defense. However the defense counsel did not request an instruction on the affirmative defense and the military judge did not give one. There being no evidence of an affirmative waiver the findings and sentence were set aside. A military judge…
Continue reading ›Navy Times reports: A former Navy officer who was serving time for hiring someone to kill his wife was killed in a Kansas military prison a month before he was supposed to be released. Officials at Fort Leavenworth say 54-year-old former Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Fricke was beaten with a baseball bat by another inmate…
Continue reading ›United States v. Ruiz should sound familiar to most defense counsel – the basic facts that is. An adultery case becomes a rape allegation. In particular I recommend: Reporting the Alleged Rape On the night of the alleged rape, after returning to the barracks, AN P did not report the rape or tell anyone what…
Continue reading ›Navy Times reports: Photo: AP/Navy Times A military judge has allowed a Marine sergeant convicted of murder in one of the biggest war crimes cases to emerge from the Iraq war to walk free, nearly two months after a military appeals court ruled he had an unfair trial. . . . Hutchins had been serving…
Continue reading ›Marine Corps Times reports that: A Camp Pendleton Marine whose murder conviction was recently overturned was released Monday after serving four years in prison for a major Iraqi war crimes case, his lawyer said. An emotional Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III vowed to be the best Marine he could be while he waits for the U.S.…
Continue reading ›In United States v. Serianne, the CAAF affirmed an NMCCA decision that a Navy order to report civilian DWI/DUI convictions was unlawful and not enforceable at court-martial. Navy Times reports: The Navy’s self-reporting requirement for drunken driving arrests will fundamentally change as a result of a recent military court ruling, the Navy’s top lawyer said.…
Continue reading ›NMCCA denied Quintanilla’s petition in which he sought to have the court overturn the ruling of the military judge at his sentencing rehearing to the effect that Life Without Parole (LWOP) is not an authorized sentence in his case. Alternatively, the petitioner requested that this court direct the military judge to grant the petitioner’s motion…
Continue reading ›United States v. Holmes. On direct appeal the NMCCA set aside the original findings of guilty to negligent homicide and the sentence. A rehearing on sentence was authorized for the remaining guilty finding of false official statement. The CA found a rehearing was impractical and approved a punishment of “no punishment.”
Continue reading ›NMCCA has decided United States v. Oglesby. The issue was prosecution sentencing evidence of other acts toward the victim which had not been charged. Appellant alleged that the military judge failed to conduct a proper 1001 and Mil. R. Evid. 403 balancing test. NMCCA disagreed. NMCCA found that the military judge properly evaluated the evidence…
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