Air Force Times reports: A U.S. soldier was taken into custody after an Afghan detainee was found dead in his cell, apparently from a gunshot wound, NATO said in a statement Tuesday night. Military.com reports: An American Soldier was charged Wednesday with killing two fellow U.S. troops and wounding a…
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
LTC Lakin sitrep
World Net Daily quotes Neal Puckett as follows: He confirmed to WND that there will be new directions for the defense, but could not elaborate. "All I can really say is the case is going to be handled differently from here on out," he said. He said "all possible courses…
Pretrial and trial publicity
Federal Evidence Review references: In conspiracy and arson trial, reversing and remanding when trial court failed "to make adequate inquiries regarding news stories" that appeared during deliberations and their impact on juror’s deliberations; the judge erroneously failed to explore "whether any juror heard any of the information" and its impact…
Coast Guard San Diego Bay sitrep
Here SignOn San Diego reports the unusual situation of public release of pretrial agreement “discussions.” The Coast Guardsman piloting the boat that killed 8-year-old Anthony DeWeese might have served a year or less in prison if his lawyers had pursued a plea deal dangled by the prosecution. It is unclear…
Eyewitness accounts and testimony
MAJ Hasan’s UCMJ Article 32 hearing and likely court-martial is drawing and will continue to draw lots of attention — of course, duh. But just as we have seen in other high profile cases there are opportunities for what I call teachable moments. Here are two from the item posted…
Up periscope
I posted before about the CO of USS OHIO being detached for cause and the number of Navy CO’s DFC’d this year. Now Navy Times has obtained a copy of documents related this case which appears to include a copy of the command investigation. The arrival of a birthday card…
The reasons why
Here is a link to the military judge’s sentencing statement in the case of Canadian Captain Semrau. Obviously it is notable because the practice is for the judge to provide a reasons for sentencing, but secondly is the reliance on United States v. Maynulet and United States v. Horne (LEXIS…
More searching privacy
Courtesy of fourthamendmentlaw.com here is an interesting summary of search law from the Oregon Federal Public Defender. First he acknowledges that a persons privacy right has been restricted over the years and with the advent of technology privacy may get harder to protect. A. Introduction The revolution of the Warren…
Ramrod Five/Stryker brigade
USA Today is reporting that Morlock has been referred to trial non-capital. As does Reuters, MSNBC and other news outlets.
LTC Lakin sitrep
It appears that LTC Lakin may be feeling victimized? safeguardourconstitution reports: In facing court-martial, LTC Lakin is just the latest victim of the determined effort of the President not to provide simple proof of his eligibility under the constitution to hold office. Thanks Dr. Conspiracy for catching that.