The News-Tribune reports: The attorney for a local soldier and alleged member of a so-called Afghan kill team used a hearing Monday and Tuesday to stage an all-out assault on the government’s key witness in the case. This would be a reference to Pvt Morlock. And Stars & Stripes reports: …
Here’s a new twist; Navy Times reports: A senior master-at-arms and expert dog handler once censured by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus for abusing subordinates has, in a remarkable twist of fate, been awarded the Silver Star for battlefield heroism during a harrowing 2009 firefight in Afghanistan during which he shot…
Courtesy of Professor Friedman: It’s going to be a little while before I offer comments directly on Williams. But meanwhile, here are thepetition for certiorari, the state’s brief in opposition, the reply by Williams, and the crucial testimony ofSandra Lambatos.
TBO.com reports that: The mother of [Kiel M. Johanson] a Coast Guard chief who is being kicked out of the service over a hazing incident says her son is the victim of a "witch hunt" and is going to appeal his court martial. I believe the older Navy terms included…
LTC Lakin, he is still a lieutenant colonel, comments on his appeal (reported on Military.com). "Realistically, I understand that a very small fraction [of appeals] get reviewed and a smaller fraction get overturned or anything," Lakin said. "But the appeals attorney has some issues he wants to bring up." I…
Professor Friedman, a true guru of “confrontation” issues notes: It appears that the next case in the Melendez-Diaz line will come very quickly. The Supreme Court granted cert today in Williams v. Illinois, No. 10-8505, seeking review of People v. Williams, 939 N.E.2d 268 (Ill. 2010). The case presents the…
There was a piece over the weekend that Bozivech would have his sentencing today. It appears it will be delayed until 8 August, reports the Miami Herald.
Goffman on the Jury: Real Juror’s Attention to the “Offstage” of trials. Social psychologist Erving Goffman, in his classic work The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, provides a framework that explains why jurors may turn their attention at the courthouse to information not formally presented from the witness stand.…
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…