Key pieces of evidence were lost or never collected in the case of five Washington-based soldiers charged with murdering Afghan civilians. That emerged Tuesday in an evidentiary hearing against the alleged ringleader – Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs.

A U.S. soldier will spend more than two years in prison after a military judge found him guilty in a court-martial Tuesday of throwing a crowbar that struck a German motorcyclist in the head.

Stars & Stripes reports.

The sentence for an Air Force staff sergeant who raped three young girls he baby-sat in the Kaiserslautern community far exceeded those historically handed down for such crimes in military court, legal experts say.

In another development Stars & Stripes reports.

Air Force officials refused to say this week whether they believe there are more victims of convicted child rapist Staff Sgt. Joshua Adam Smith, saying that information could not be disclosed because the case is still open.

The Southeast Sun reports.

The court-martial of an Army soldier charged locally in connection with what is being described as a gruesome child pornography case could begin before the end of the year. Coffee County District Attorney Gary McAliley said an agreement was reached between Fort Rucker officials and his office that Sgt. Dustin Ray Hogan, 30, charged with 36 counts of possession of child pornography, will be tried by the military before facing trial in a civilian courtroom.

Medscape has an interesting look at MAJ Hasan’s case.

The final day of the prosecution’s presentation focused on evidence showing that Hasan began preparing and practicing months before the November 5 massacre. Such evidence of prior planning may undercut a possible insanity defense and could be significant if the US Army decides to seek the death penalty.

The News Tribune has a statement from SSG Gibb’s attorney that he won’t be prosecuted until all the others get immunity.

The defense does not plan to present any evidence when a military hearing resumes next week for the Army psychiatrist charged in last year’s deadly Fort Hood shootings, the lead defense attorney said Tuesday. John Galligan said the government had offered “no surprises” in presenting its case against Maj. Nidal Hasan during two weeks of testimony in October.

Army Times reports.

An Army sergeant accused of masterminding a plan to kill Afghan civilians for sport used manipulation and intimidation to lead other soldiers into acts of unspeakable cruelty, an Army prosecutor told a military hearing Tuesday. But the defense attorney for Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs said the government has no physical evidence against the 25-year-old from Billings, Mont. — only the statements of other soldiers, many of whom also are charged in the case.

Kate Wiltrout at Virginia Pilot reports on a command response on the USS SAN ANTONIO case.

For Lt. Cmdr. Sean Kearns, the outcome of last week’s court-martial is crystal clear. Kearns, former executive officer of the troubled amphibious transport dock San Antonio, was found not guilty of criminal negligence related to the death of a sailor who drowned last year in the Gulf of Aden. For the man who opted to send Kearns to trial, the ramifications of the case are more murky.

Admiral Harvey presents an interesting contrast between legal and criminal responsibility for a senior officer, and the maxim that a captain should go down with his ship. While to XO may have been acquitted as a matter of criminal law, it appears that he is guilty as a matter of Navy philosophy of command responsibility.

Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs’ big talk about killing Afghan civilians and getting away with it made him stand out when he joined a new platoon at an Army base in southern Afghanistan a year ago, according to written statements from his comrades. Some of his Stryker platoon mates from Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash., told investigators they didn’t know what to make of him. They thought he must be kidding. Now Gibbs is at the center of an Army war crimes investigation that netted 11 of his comrades from the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. They await their own trials for misdeeds they allegedly committed under Gibbs’ direction. Five soldiers, including Gibbs, are charged with murder.

Here’s a look at the charges Gibbs faces, and how his platoon mates described the incidents behind them. The information comes from sworn statements obtained by The News Tribune, as well as Army charge sheets, documents written by defense attorneys and testimony in court.

Huuuuuuuum, that seems strikingly similar to The Olympian.

The soldier who tried to blow the whistle on an alleged plot to kill Afghan civilians for sport has been put in solitary confinement in a windowless cell for 23 hours a day, his family said. The father of Spc. Adam Winfield is objecting to the conditions at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle, and wants the soldier moved to a different facility. Christopher Winfield said his son was separated from other defendants in the case about a month ago after he reported being threatened by one of them. He’s been in protective solitary custody since then, but conditions grew markedly worse last week when he was moved from a cell with access to a common area and television to one he’s locked in nearly all the time, his father said.

In conspiracy and arson trial, reversing and remanding when trial court failed “to make adequate inquiries regarding news stories” that appeared during deliberations and their impact on juror’s deliberations; the judge erroneously failed to explore “whether any juror heard any of the information” and its impact on the jury, in United States v. Waters, __ F.3d __ (9th Cir. Sept. 15, 2010) (No. 08-30222)

The Ninth Circuit recently considered the trial court’s responsibilities to make specific inquiry of jurors when “adverse publicity occurs during deliberations” of the jury. The case can help clear up confusion about the role of the trial court, particularly in light of FRE 606(b) limiting inquiry into a verdict.

I would imagine the media access and media impact issues are going to have a continuing interest in court-martial cases under the UCMJ – Hasan, the Stryker Brigade cases, Wikileaks and Manning, to name a few.

The arrival of a birthday card in the ship’s mail addressed to Capt. Ronald Murray Gero, who was turning 56, marked the beginning of the end of his command of the guided-missile submarine Ohio.

It appears various members of the crew started collecting evidence, and then:

A subsequent command investigation — obtained by Navy Times through a Freedom of Information Act request — found that the relationship bore the hallmarks of an extramarital affair, but acknowledged that the participants likely did not have sex.

Here’s a News Tribune piece on SPC Wagnon.

Soldiers who fought in Iraq alongside Spc. Michael Wagnon don’t recognize their friend when they read reports of his alleged role in a plot to kill civilians while deployed in Afghanistan this year with a Joint Base Lewis-McChord Stryker brigade.

Milblogging has alerted us to the new Social Media Handbook released this week to the Navy.

From 1986 until her retirement last year, Jaffe’s job with the California Army National Guard was to give away money — the federally subsidized student-loan repayments and cash bonuses — paid for by federal taxpayers nationwide — that the Guard is supposed to use to attract new recruits and encourage Guard members to re-enlist. Instead, according to a Guard auditor turned federal whistle-blower, as much as $100 million has gone to soldiers who didn’t qualify for the incentives, including some who got tens of thousands of dollars more than the program allows.

The Austin American-Statesman has an interesting piece about John Galligan and the MAJ Hasan case.

On Tuesday, Galligan will begin his courtroom defense of Hasan, whose Article 32 pretrial hearing — which will determine whether Hasan faces a court-martial and potentially the death penalty — is expected to feature weeks of testimony by dozens of witnesses, including all 32 wounded victims. But though his role as Hasan’s attorney has thrust him into the national discussion, Galligan has long been a polarizing figure in Bell County, where friends and foes alike describe him as a fearless fighter who has courted controversy — and the spotlight — in recent years.

Here’s a Austin American-Statesman piece on some of the players involved in the MAJ Hasan case.

Salon is reporting and has published an Article 32, UCMJ, report for United States v. Patano. Patano is running for Congress and it appears those who do not support him have obtained and released the Article 32. Patano had been charged with premeditated murder in violation of Article 118, UCMJ.

The military ultimately agreed with Pantano’s version of events, in which the two Iraqi men made a threatening movement toward him, and decided to drop the charges. Officials also opted not to subject Pantano to nonjudicial punishment for desecrating the bodies of the two men (by reloading his rifle and emptying another magazine into the men after they were already dead).

The Seattle Times reports on the Ramrod Five/Stryker Brigade cases.

A [] document[ review] raises questions about the oversight by the soldiers’ leaders. Why through most of the winter and spring months did they fail to uncover wrongdoing and remove rogue soldiers from the unit? Some officers and enlisted soldiers with direct oversight roles did have clues that something might be amiss, according to information in sworn statements they made in May to Army criminal investigators. But these leaders appear to have given the benefit of the doubt to their men, enmeshed in a difficult deployment in the heart of Taliban country

The News Tribune reports:

Col. Thomas Molloy found that Spc. Jeremy Morlock should be held accountable for any actions he might have committed. Molloy noted that Morlock was viewed by fellow soldiers “as an effective, reliable, engaged team leader,” rather than the picture painted by defense attorneys of a prescription drug-impaired soldier who was bullied by his squad leader.

The defense appears to be focused on two issues: fear of the squad leader and intimidation by him, and the issue of drugs, especially in regard to the supposed confession (some of which has been released to the public. See my post about unauthorized releases.)

Army Times has reported that,

They could face the death penalty if convicted.

Is there any information that the Army will in fact seek a death penalty referral? I had understood, perhaps wrongly, that the Army policy is to disclose that at the time of the Article 32, UCMJ, hearing and ask the IO to address that aspect of the disposition.

Interesting court order (thanks Oh For Goodness Sake) in a civilian case involving a retired Navy officer. Here are links to 10 U. S. Code Sec. 771, 772.

A U.S. soldier accused of killing civilians in Afghanistan should face a court-martial on murder and other charges, an Army officer has recommended. The recommendation, included in a document obtained by CNN, comes after prosecutors laid out their evidence against Spc. Jeremy Morlock in a hearing last week. Morlock is one of five members of the Army’s 5th Stryker Brigade who have been accused of premeditated murder in a series of incidents between January and May. The recommendation goes to the brigade’s commander. It was contained in a document that summarized last week’s hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, an Army-Air Force installation outside Tacoma, Washington.

Who released the IO report?

Base officials would not confirm the authenticity of the document, which has not been publicly released.

You will recollect that we have the recent unauthorized (?) release of the Article 32, UCMJ, report in the Coast Guard boating tragedy.

The Army has postponed a hearing that had been scheduled for Tuesday for Staff Sgt. David Bram, who faces charges of conspiracy, striking another soldier, cruelty, dereliction of duty and impeding an investigation while serving in southern Afghanistan.

Military.com reports (no surprise here, the surprise would be not seeking a capital referral):

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s lawyer [Mr. Galligan] says he expects the Army to seek the death penalty for the Fort Hood shootings.

While UPI reports:

Galligan is likely to raise the “good soldier” defense, in part by introducing favorable officer evaluations. The defense also could contend Hasan had a mental breakdown.

Military.com reports:

Twenty months ago, Navy Sailor Darren Mackie, 22, killed his ex-girlfriend, Navy Sailor Caitlin Elizabeth Trask, 20, with a single bullet to the back of the head. Her parents are still waiting for the Navy to dishonorably discharge him.

I recently posted on that case here.

KansasCity.com reports:

An airman accused of having unprotected sex without telling partners he was HIV positive faces a[n Article 32, UCMJ, hearing 5 October].

SCOTUSBlog reports on an issue that might affect military prisoners:

Buried in this morning’s order list is an order that may be of special interest to members of the Supreme Court bar who represent indigent parties in the Court. The Court denied the motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) and for appointment of counsel in Sossamon v. Texas, No. 08-1438, a case being argued in November. The denial may signal a change in the Court’s criteria for granting IFP status at the merits stage in some cases.

SCOTUSBlog reports here on the issue of the court and its intersection with the “Digital Age.”

Opening a new Term on Monday, the Supreme Court once again indicated that it is reluctant to get deeply involved in exploring new issues about privacy in the Digital Age. Without comment, it turned aside an appeal by the state of Ohio, asking the Justices to give police wider authority to check out the contents of a private cell phone they obtained during an arrest. The case was one of nearly 2,000 that the Court refused to hear in its new Term. It granted no new cases beyond the 14 it added to its decision docket last Tuesday. The Court has said explictly that it does not yet have a broad enough understanding of new electronic technology to make major pronouncements on the constitutional issues that are arising around it.

Recordnet.com reports, by Michael Fitzgerald, “Medics bravery in battle finally recognized.”

The Army drafted Yagi on Feb. 19, 1942 – the very day Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, the Japanese deportation. Suddenly, the hard-working Yagis had no constitutional rights. At first, Yagi refused to fight. It wasn’t right. The Army initiated a court martial. Yagi relented. He would go – but as a medic.

In 2008 family members decided to look into their secretive relations military past.

And made a discovery. Tom Yagi was supposed to have received the Silver Star.

Army Times reports:

All Spc. Bryan Roudebush wanted was a legal high. Trying to get some relaxation, he sat on a balcony in Waikiki, Hawaii, and took five hits off a small pipe packed with a drug called spice. He stepped back inside, dozed off on the couch beside his girlfriend Ola Peyton, and then — as if in a trance — he beat Peyton senseless and nearly pushed her off the 11th floor balcony.

The Peoplesvoice.org reports:

Mickey Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation have been fighting the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs for a very long time. Weinstein’s group is working to restore normal constitutional rights and practices in a military organization that has been hijacked by Christian Zionists who call themselves “Evangelicals.” The idea is simple. To get into the Academy or to remain there, un-raped, unbeaten, you have to attend regular “bible study” groups and continually mumble prayers. No Jews allowed. No homosexuals allowed. No Muslims allowed. It doesn’t stop there[.]

See here for prior posts on this subject.

Washington Post on the Ramrod Five.

A U.S. Army staff sergeant dreamed up a plan for fellow soldiers to kill three Afghan civilians this year because he was motivated by “pure hatred,” another soldier accused in the slayings has told investigators

Here’s a News Tribune piece on “The Stryker Brigade” or “Ramrod Five.”

The charges stacked up against five soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord sound as if they rank among the worst war crimes in the past nine years of combat in the Middle East: killing Afghan civilians and keeping gruesome souvenirs from the attacks.

There are some comparisons with previous cases.

FayObserver reports:

A man accused of multiple rapes in the Fayetteville-Fort Bragg community is scheduled to face a court-martial Dec. 8, a military judge announced Monday. Spc. Aaron M. Pernell of Tulsa, Okla., is charged by military authorities with attempted rape, two counts of rape, assault, two counts of burglary and one count of housebreaking on Fort Bragg. The charges stem from two home break-ins on Fort Bragg and the assault on one woman.

Military.com reports a potential court-martial case under the UCMJ:

The director of the Pentagon office overseeing the treatment of troops suffering from brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder is under investigation for allegedly making unwanted sexual advances and creating a hostile work environment, The Associated Press has learned.

Military.com reports:

Hawaii State Rep. Rida Cabanilla Arakawa, an Army Reservist who beat a Democratic opponent in Saturday’s primary election, may have violated Pentagon policy on campaigning in uniform. Violations of the policy have occurred across the country, but an Army Reserve lawyer here said little can be done to political candidates who are part-time soldiers.