On 20 March 2012, NMCCA decided United States v. Jones; and in doing so they have answered a question that was not unexpected, but took a little while to come. In United States v. Miller, 63 M.J. 452 (C.A.A.F. 2006), CAAF decided prospectively that defense counsel must advise a client…
From time to time I raise a “constellation of error” in an appellate brief. Otherwise known as the doctrine of cumulative error. See United States v. Gray , 51 M.J. 1, 61 (C.A.A.F. 1999). We hold, therefore, that this case “falls . . . within the ambit of the doctrine of…
Various rules in the R.C.M. and the Military Rules of Evidence require notice to the other side. Some rules are explicit, for example Mil. R. Evid. 412 requires notice no less than five days “before entry of pleas”, unless the military judge sets an earlier time. Mil. R. Evid. 412(c)(1)(A),…
Judge Posner has authored an interesting opinion in United States v. Flores-Lopez. In the case police seized a cell-phone and took some phone numbers. But in the process of deciding the limited Fourth Amendment issue, Judge Posner raises (but leaves to another day) the legitimate question that today’s cellphones are…
http://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2012/02/why-do-guilty-people-plead-not-guilty.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Blotter+%28FindLaw+Blotter%29
Thanks to Volokh Conspiracy here is an important case relevant to “searches” of computers. We hold that the act of Doe’s decryption and production of the contents of the hard drives would sufficiently implicate the Fifth Amendment privilege. We reach this holding by concluding that (1) Doe’s decryption and production…
From time to time I’ve referred to federal jury instructions to help craft a “novel” members instruction. Sometimes you have to refer to federal instructions for other reasons. For example, I just completed a litigated “wire fraud” case, 18 U. S. Code Sec. 1343, where we needed to figure out…
Here is an interesting case from the DC Court of Appeals – Pettus v. United States – about the admissibility of handwriting testimony, and a link to a blog item. H/T Crime&ConsequencesBlog
The NMCCA has issued a published opinion in United States v. Walker. This case began its appellate life with a death penalty sentence. In 2008, this court issued an opinion, United States v. Walker, 66 M.J. 721 (N.M.Ct.Crim.App. 2008), in which we affirmed one of the findings of guilty to…
NMCCA dismisses a conviction for consensual homosexual sodomy in United States v. Stratton. It’s unpublished but worth the read. Appellant was accused of forcible sodomy, but was convicted of consensual sodomy. That means Lawrence and Marcum had to be discussed. Read this case for the following: A discussion and reiteration…