KSALLink reports: A Fort Riley soldier is killed during a standoff at a motel in Abilene. . . . The Army says that Evenson was reported Absent Without Leave by military authorities Tuesday when he failed to appear for the second day of his court-martial for rape of a child.…
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
Up periscope
Slightly off topic. The Richmond Times Despatch reports on the pending appellate action of the “Norfolk Four.” Seems to me this might be a coram nobis case had it been a court-martial. From FOB Tacoma, The News Tribune reports: The Army is moving forward with most of the charges it…
More on Crawford to Williams-with stops between
Professor Freidman the Great Confrontationist has posted the Petitioner’s Brief and Appendix for Williams v. Illinois. This case is one of several we should be following that will come from the Supremes. This issue presented in Williams is: Whether the prosecution violates the Confrontation Clause when it presents, pursuant to…
NMCCA posts Wuterich
Wuterich v. United States.
A Randolph case
Police came to do a knock-and-talk, and defendant objected to a search of the bedroom he shared with his wife. When he objected, the police took the wife and her mother outside to talk about consent. The district court’s effort to find a hierarchy of privacy interests in the home…
More on Perry v. NH
I posted about eyewitness testimony the other day. Here is an article to read. Sandra Guerra Thompson (University of Houston Law Center) has postedJudicial Gatekeeping of Police-Generated Witness Testimony on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article urges a fundamental change in the administration of criminal justice. It calls for…
The year of 412
Yes, this season appears to be the one to address a number of lingering or ambiguous (or not so ambiguous) issues about Mil. R. Evid. 412. So, it seems apt that the last opinion for this season is out: United States v. Ellenbrock. We granted review to determine whether the…
CAAF decides LNC Sweeney’s case
United States v. Sweeney. This is a Crawford-Blazier case. In the Blazier cases, we set forth a straightforward path for analyzing the admissibility of drug testing reports under the Confrontation Clause. . . . we hold that Appellant was denied his right to confront the witnesses against him, and we…
Eyewitness testimony and identification
The CAAF recently decided United States v. Baker, an Article 62 appeal of an MJ’s ruling suppressing an identification. There is quite a bit of legitimate research indicating that even 12 bishops might give an erroneous identification of a suspect either in witness interviews or through an out of court…
Up periscope
DOD Live has a piece from the Surgeon General of the Navy about “spice.” The Navy’s zero tolerance policy for drug abuse includes possession of substances or designated products that contain synthetic cannabinoid compounds, including Spice, fake marijuana or fake pot, herbal incense or potpourri, salvia divinorum, bath salts, Skunk,…