Navy Times reports: The Navy says it’s discharging 16 Sailors assigned to the amphibious ship Bataan for using or dealing the banned synthetic drug Spice. Honolulu Star Advertiser reports: What punishment did the Schofield Barracks soldier receive for killing a civilian worker in Iraq in 2009? He was supposed to…
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
You are lying, you are a liar!
Evan Schaeffer at illinoistrialpractice.com has this post: In the new book, Your Witness: Lessons on Cross-Examination, there is a chapter titled "Cross-Examining the Liar" by Chicago lawyer Dan Webb. Webb, who has cross-examined scores of liars during his long career, begins the chapter by describing the two requirements that must…
Preservation of the issue
Thanks to federalevidencereview.com here is an interesting case about preserving the issue for appeal. In this case there was a pretrial motion and the judge denied the defense its requested relief. The government claimed the plain error standard would apply, as at trial the defendant failed to preserve the issue…
Up periscope 115
Navy Times reports: The command master chief of the Japan-based destroyer Stethem has been fired after being arrested in connection with a drunken-driving incident, according to a 7th Fleet spokesman. The relief of Command Master Chief (SW/AW) Kelvin Coleman on Jan. 22 marks the second firing of a command’s top…
NMCCA has decided a number of cases
Three of which have discussion. United States v. Hohman. It’s a Marine case along the lines of Hutchins, et. al. The Government alleges the military judge erred in abating the court-martial proceedings until the appellee’s previously detailed military defense counsel is returned to the defense team. Subsequent to the Government’s…
Up periscope 114
Navy Times has a little more information on the USNA spice “case.” The Navy expelled the seven mids three months after investigators seized a notebook page that suggests one or more midshipmen had hatched the layout for a spice ring. The notebook page seized by Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents…
Up periscope
The Colorado Springs Gazette reports: A Fort Carson soldier was sentenced Sunday to 10 years in prison for killing two of his friends while driving drunk last year. Fayobserver.com reports: Military police have identified suspects in the shooting of a 23-year-old Fort Bragg soldier on Yadkin Road Sunday morning. I…
CAAF decides Pope
United States v. Pope. We granted review of four issues in this case: WHETHER THE MILITARY JUDGE ABUSED HIS DISCRETION BY ADMITTING A GREEN DETOXIFICATION DRINK UNDER THE DOCTRINE OF SIMILAR PHYSICAL EVIDENCE. WHETHER THE MILITARY JUDGE COMMITTED PLAIN ERROR WHEN HE FAILED TO GIVE A LIMITING INSTRUCTION THAT AN…
Honors
Navy Times reports: Navy Times has obtained fired carrier commander Capt. Owen Honors’ statement to investigators, in which he said several of his superior officers were aware of, and in some cases, encouraged the shipboard videos that got him fired earlier this year. The 15-page declaration is signed and dated…
Some reading on voir dire
Volume 23, The Jury Expert, is now online. It’s Deja Vu All Over Again: More Thoughts on Doing Effective Voir Dire by Charlotte A. Morris. The Influence of Jurors’ Perceptions of Attorneys and Their Performance on Verdict, by Steve M. Wood, Lorie L. Sicafuse, Monica K. Miller, and Julianna C.…