Stars & Stripes reports on some “new” developments at the [in]famous USACIL. The military’s premier crime lab should be a place of sober scientific research, but lately it seems more like the set of a soap opera consumed with scandal and intrigue. In less than four years, at least six…
Several items crossed my .net over the last few days. The topic is not new and will remain with us for some time. Army Times reports: Officials at Joint Base Lewis-McChord believe they’re making progress against the stigma that keeps some soldiers from getting help for mental health issues. More…
Daily Journal blog is reporting that Bozicevich goes back to court on Monday for his sentencing hearing.
Many years ago I spent a lot of time prosecuting and defending “pack rats.” There was a slew of “national security cases” in the late 1980’s, post-Walker. It appears there is a new name for personnel who took classified material home either by accident (in the briefcase or notebook), or…
Army Times reports: A Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier convicted in the deaths of three Afghan civilians last year is backing away from an earlier statement that one of his superiors explicitly approved the first killing. WAVY.com reports: Crew members of the Coast Guard Cutter Venturous engaged in clandestine hazing in…
The US Supreme Court has decided Bullcoming. Surrogate testimony is no good. The question presented is whether the Confrontation Clause permits the prosecution to introduce a forensic laboratory report containing a testimonial certification—made for the purpose of proving a particular fact—through the in-court testimony of a scientist who did not…
Army Times reports: The director of the Army Substance Abuse Program at Carlisle Barracks is on leave pending further action after his arrest on cocaine distribution charges.
In Mil. R. Evid. 1102, any amendment to the Federal Rules of Evidence come into effect in courts-martial 18 months after their effective date, absent action to the contrary. I have not seen anything on Fed. R. Evid. 502(d), within the Joint Service Committee or other DoD organ. The federal…
In United States v. Olguin ___ F.3d ___ (5th Cir. 2011), the court determined that certified business records were properly admitted where the documents had been provided the defense about six months before trial and the prosecution gave written notice five days before trial of the intent to offer under…
Many Navy bulkheads have that stuck up somewhere in jest. But, as Professor Berman reports, Salon has a piece about a new book authored by Peter Moskos, “In Defense of Flogging.”