Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

In United States v.  Caldwell, NMCCA has set-aside a plea to larceny and to intentional self-injury; but affirmed the sentence on the remaining charges.  Judge Beal concurred only in the approval of the sentence.

Marriott and Sullivan, Opening to Win: Seven tips for delivering an effective opening statement, New York L. J.

Here is a link to the current DOJ Manual on search and seizure of electronic evidence in criminal investigations.  I (and others) have used this several times in the past to contrast military law enforcement actions.

I recently completed a trial in which various statements (of the client) were admitted, over objection, under Mil. R. Evid. 801(d)(2)(B): these were statements of a husband and the client.  The husband’s statements weren’t admitted.  Interestingly Professor Colin Miller has a series of posts on his blog about “adoptive admissions.”…

Las Cruces Sun News reports:  A colonel described by friendly witnesses as "old Army" listened during his court-martial on Tuesday as women testified he had sexually harassed them in 2010 while commanding a combat hospital in Afghanistan.  The El Paso Times reports:  a sentence of three month confinement and a…

Huuuuuum.  Federalevidence.com brings us United States v. Fields, _ F.3d _ (1st Cir. Nov. 2, 2011) (No. 09-1108) (per curiam). .

Air Force Times has a piece on the current litigation of Col Mo Davis and his lawsuit over his firing from the Library of Congress.

Politics Wires has a piece on United States v. Fry to be argued this week at CAAF. Peninsula Daily reports:   Coast Guard helicopter co-pilot who was the only survivor of a July 7, 2010, crash that killed three crewmen off the Washington state coast at LaPush will be questioned Dec.…

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSBlog has a preview of Perry v. New Hampshire. At 10 a.m. next Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear one hour of oral argument on a case seeking clarification of when trial courts must exclude the testimony of an eyewitness to a crime because the testimony was…

The Voice of America reports:  A military court in the western U.S. state of Washington is set to try Calvin Gibbs, an American soldier accused of masterminding the brutal killings of Afghan civilians last year. Gibbs’ court martial is set to get under way on Friday. What I find interesting…