DoD is starting to announce new policies that may go into effect because of the inquiry into Major Hasan. I expect two will cause some heartburn:

More restrictive policy regarding weapons on base, including in quarters. I expect there will an initial uptick in Second Amendment related complaints.

More access to medical and mental health records for commanders. While I understand the motivations for a policy of greater commander access, I expect this may have a dampening effect on people seeking help, unless there is some built in privilege to the disclosures.

There is still a stigma attached to people who seek mental health counseling, so there is a reluctance to get help, especially at an early stage when the help might do the most good. An effect is the suicide rate for people who didn’t seek help but who might of sought help if they knew their records were protected and they weren’t going to get court-martialed.

Not going too far, how about you?

Meanwhile – – –

A Robins Air Force Base master sergeant was dishonorably discharged and sentenced to 50 years in prison after he was found guilty of engaging in sexual contact with several minors, according to The Robins Rev-Up, the Robins Air Force Base installation newspaper.

(Macon) Sun News reports. And here is a link to Rev-Up Military Justice Actions. There is also an item about Air Force high-year tenure changes which can be relevant to UCMJ actions.

A U.S. Air Force officer has admitted to beating a gay man outside a Manhattan bar, and lost his rank for his role in the incident. . . Ford, a Bronze Star medal recipient, lost a month’s pay and his rank, the story said. (I think they mean non-commissioned officer.)

Edge reports.

Lawyers for a Navy senior chief implicated in a hazing scandal in Bahrain say he’s been smeared by “scurrilous allegations” and are mounting a vigorous defense in hopes that he can retire at full pay. . . A three-member board convened Thursday to consider the retirement of Michael Toussaint, a master-at-arms who served as kennel master of the military working-dog unit in Bahrain from 2004 to 2006.

Kate Wiltrout, Pilot Online reports.

A Fort Bragg soldier charged with burglary and sexual assault tried to get mental counseling after returning from Iraq but was turned down, his family members said Thursday. . . Spc. Aaron Michael Pernell, 22, was charged Monday in two burglaries and a sexual assault that occurred in December in the Ste. Mere Eglise neighborhood on post. . . The Army plans to conduct an Article 32 hearing, which is the military equivalent of a probable-cause hearing, in the next week to determine whether a court-martial is warranted, Fickel said.

WRAL.com reports. The article also has links to a number of other pieces about this case.

Despite assurances by military public affairs officers that the Army would work with Spc. Hutchinson and her attorneys to resolve the matter administratively, rather than through the criminal process, charges of missing movement, AWOL, dereliction of duty, and insubordinate conduct were filed on January 13th.

IndyBay.org reports.

SPC, 11th Engineer Battalion, convicted at special court-martial of two specifications of absence without leave and two specifications of wrongful use of a controlled substance. A military judge sentenced him to confinement for 135 days, and a bad-conduct discharge. SPC, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, convicted at a special court-martial of three specifications of assault. A military judge reduced him in pay to E-2 and two months confinement.

The Bayonet reports.

Stolen Valor Update.

The federal courts are wrestling with a question of both liberty and patriotism: Does the First Amendment right to free speech protect people who lie about being war heroes? At issue is a three-year-old federal law called the Stolen Valor Act that makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail to falsely claim to have received a medal from the U.S. military. It is a crime even if the liar makes no effort to profit from his stolen glory. Attorneys in Colorado and California are challenging the law on behalf of two men charged, saying the First Amendment protects almost all speech that doesn’t hurt someone else. Neither man has been accused by prosecutors of seeking financial gain for himself.

AJC and SeattlePI report. It seems to me there are four types of individuals who steal valor: the active, Reserve, or NG person, the civilian or former member who uses their “valor” to get something for free, the person who gets something but it’s hard to quantify, and the pure braggart. The military person can be dealt with under the UCMJ, the fraud for profit can be prosecuted for the fraud, and the other two can be cut and sent to Coventry.

The Disrespectful Rapper.

In my previous post, I talked about how the Army plans to Extradite to the sovereign nation of Iraq a Stop Loss Rappin Soldier to get him away from U.S. Public Scrutiny Well readers if you agree with this, then what next sending American Soldiers to the United Nations to find other countries to court martial our troops outside the borders of the United States so the Pentagon is not embarrassed?

Robert L. Hanafin, Veterans Today comments. An odd perspective.

Collateral effects.

The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that homeless sex criminals don’t have to comply with Michigan’s Sex Offender Registry Act. Many law enforcement officials — who often have to deal with sex offenders who claim they have no permanent residence — aren’t happy with the ruling. – – – – – – A Third Circuit panel has again struck down as substantively unreasonable a supervised release condition putting a lifetime limit on internet use. United States v. Miller, No. 08-4278 (3d Cir. Feb. 5, 2010).

Sentencing Law & Policy hat tips.

[Update] A Marine captain awaiting a court-martial for defrauding the government was found dead from an apparent suicide Sunday in the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., brig, base officials said.

Marine Corps Times reports. I have commented before about the attention given to increases in the military suicide rate, and that I believe there is an uptick in suicides related to courts-martial.

Capt. Michael A. Webb, 46, of Coto de Caza, Calif., was found unresponsive Sunday at 7:21 a.m. and was later pronounced dead at the scene, said Lt. Col. Roger Galbriath. Webb had been placed under pretrial restraint as a result of the serious nature of his misconduct, because he failed to report to Quantico Marine Corps base when ordered, and because he was determined by an independent reviewing officer to be a flight risk.

InsideNoVA.com reports.

[Update] A Marine captain awaiting a court-martial for defrauding the government was found dead from an apparent suicide Sunday in the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., brig, base officials said.

Marine Corps Times reports. I have commented before about the attention given to increases in the military suicide rate, and that I believe there is an uptick in suicides related to courts-martial as well.

Eight years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have etched indelible scars on the psyches of many of the nation’s service members, and the U.S. military is losing a battle to stem an epidemic of suicides in its ranks. Despite calls by top Pentagon officials for a sea change in attitudes about mental health, millions of dollars in new suicide-prevention programming and thousands of hours spent helping soldiers suffering from what often are euphemistically dubbed “invisible wounds,” the military is losing ground. The Department of Defense Friday reported that there were 160 reported active-duty Army suicides in 2009, up from 140 in 2008. Of these, 114 have been confirmed, while the manner of death in the remaining 46 remains to be determined. “I look at the numbers of each service, and that rate has gone up at the same rate across the services,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a gathering of military mental health professionals and advocates last week. An increasing number are female soldiers, who rarely committed suicide before but now are killing themselves at a much higher rate.

Stars & Stripes reports.

Last year was the worst for suicides among active-duty soldiers since the Army began tracking those deaths in 1980.

What I’d be interested in knowing is how many suicides, attempted suicides, or “gestures,” are military justice related. Anecdotally, I know of two suicides (one an appellate client, and one a pre-Article 32 client), and several others with actual attempts, and a number with acts labeled gestures. My sense is that most of these particular cases are of officers and senior enlisted.

Many units appear to deal with people in the military justice process reasonably fairly. But there are enough units that basically cut the person off from all support, they are labeled and isolated. The Marines seem to be the best in taking the attitude that, “He’s still a Marine until convicted.” And after trial the Marines as a group seem better in handling the Marine.

So my question is how many of the suicidal gestures, attempted suicides, and suicides are of people within the military justice process.

With the question goes a reminder to defense counsel, and to trial counsel. You have to be ever conscious that your client may be one of those who is at risk. You don’t have to break the officer-enlisted barrier and become their best friend and get to first name basis, you don’t have to get all warm and fuzzy. You have to treat clients with the respect and courtesy due any human, and be alert to signs. This requires you to observe and listen to your client or the accused. You should be doing that anyway, but keep their mental state in mind.

The Army’s attempt to stem a rising tide of suicides made it impossible for a Fort Bliss soldier convicted of cruelty toward subordinates to get a fair trial, the soldier’s parents say. “I still maintain that this was a miscarriage of justice,” said John Taylor, father of Pvt. Jarrett Taylor. “They needed a conviction and they got it. É This is a sham.” Taylor said his son, a sergeant at the time, was trying to help soldiers on their first deployment in Iraq survive in a combat zone.

elpasotimes.com reports on this concluded court-martial for violations of Article 93, and 107, UCMJ. This is not the only court-martial to have arisen from this case.

Charges against Daniel Weber, 24, of Frankenmuth, Mich., were dropped with the understanding that he would testify against the others. He is no longer in the Army.

Sgt. Enoch Chatman, 30, of West Covina, Calif., and Staff Sgt. Bob Clements, 29, of Eastland, Texas, face more serious charges and are scheduled for courts-martial early next year, Caggins said.