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…
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
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.…
NMCCA finds plea potentially improvident
In United States v. Hayes, appellant plead guilty. However, during his sentencing case the appellant’s unsworn statement sets forth matter clearly inconsistent with his admission of culpability. Specifically, the appellant raises the possible defense of duress upon which there is no inquiry by the trial judge. Duress is a defense…
Military Onion
An unnamed source has revealed that the Navy is in the final iteration of a new order to combat mind altering substances. The source notes that a proposal is in the works to place all Thai food, Indian food, and similar specialty restaurants off-limits. They are hoping to cut-off the…
Honorable mention
newsmax.com reports: Navy Capt. Owen P. Honors, removed from command of one of the Navy’s most powerful warships and under investigation for ribald videos made to amuse his crew, is getting moral support from an unexpected quarter — gay sailors who served under his command. Interviews with sailors on the…
Spice rack
Navy Compass reports: Navy leaders are expressing alarm at recent statistics that show that sailors’ use of "Spice" and similar so-called designer drugs rose in the last quarter of 2010. Spice and similar products are essentially an herbal, synthetic form of marijuana, mimicking the chemical compounds found in the drug.…
Manning up
Wired.com reports: Army commanders were warned against sending to Iraq an Army private who is suspected of leaking hundreds of thousands of sensitive documents to the secret-spilling site WikiLeaks. Pfc. Bradley Manning’s supervisor at Ft. Drum in New York had told his superiors that Manning had discipline problems and had…
Up periscope 112
News&Tribune reports: A pretrial investigation into the death of a Henryville woman, allegedly murdered by her husband, a U.S. Army solder from New Albany, is still ongoing. WITN reports: WITN News has learned that the former commander at Cherry Point is now facing military charges in connection with his drunk…