in the civilian courts. Sentencing Law & Policy reports: The Ninth Circuit has an interesting opinion concerning the withdrawal of pleas in US v. Bonilla, No. 09-10307 (9th Cir. March 11, 2011) (available here), which relies heavily on the Supreme Court’s important Sixth Amendment ruling last Term in Padilla v.…
Huffington Post reports that the USNA has expelled three for synthetic spice related charges, for a total of 11 dismissals in 2011. Air Force Times reports further action on the military draw down: 12 Article 15’s for involvement with “spice.” According to Foreign Policy: State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told…
Here is the 10 March 2011, written rebuttal from Manning on the Article 138, UCMJ, complaint. Colonel Choike is the Commander, Marine Corps Base, Quantico.
Fox News reports: The Army announced Thursday it will punish nine officers in connection with the Fort Hoodshootings for "leadership failures relating to the career of Maj. Hasan." MSNBC has this piece. Since the action "non-judicial punishment" is not criminal, and the nine accused officers have the right to appeal,…
The Marine Corps says it has issued a suicide-proof sleeping garment to the imprisoned Army private suspected of giving classified material to WikiLeaks.
Professor Friedman reminds us that we have other confrontation issues beyond the non-testifying witness concern. Focus on Crawford-related issues should not obscure the fact that many significant Confrontation Clause questions concern the scope of the accused’s right to cross-examine a witness who actually testifies at trial. Adam Liptak of the…
federalevidence.com reports on: In trial for mail fraud and theft from a program receiving federal funds, trial court error in permitting the prosecutor to cross-examine the defendant state legislator as to her opinion of whether other witnesses were lying and lacked veracity, however error did not rise to plain error;…
United States v. Medina. While this case, like Prather, involves the “substantially incapacitated” element of aggravated sexual assault under Article 120(c)(2), UCMJ, under the unique circumstances of this case the instructions provided by the military judge did not employ the statutory provision regarding the defense’s burden of proof on the…
Stars & Stripes reports: The Marine Corps on Okinawa has created a crime-tips website to combat the use of designer drugs known as Spice, officials said Thursday. ACCA decided United States v. Baker, a government appeal. ACCA decided that the military judge abused his discretion by suppressing a “show-up” and…
Army Times reports: A former command sergeant major at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., fired for faking his record and wearing numerous unauthorized awards and decorations, was sentenced to six months imprisonment and a demotion to staff sergeant. 10News reports: Home video reveals dramatic details about the…