Here is an interesting piece by Pamla M. Sterner, The Stolen Valor Act 2005. 120 STAT. 3266 PUBLIC LAW 109–437—DEC. 20, 2006. Vietnam Veteran Charged With Violation of the Stolen Valor Act of 2005. Signed into law in 2006. These type of cases are certainly the most difficult of all…
The Kansas Court of Appeals continues the tradition of citation to anecdotal legal authority. See The cult of Sir Cloudesly Shovell, CAAFLog, 21 April 2009. It appears that the Kansas Court of Appeals cited the little watched short running show “Branded” as a basis to overturn a trial judges requirement…
We are all familiar with Rock v. Arkansas, 483 U.S. 44 (1987), in which a per se bar against hypnotically refreshed testimony of an accused was held unconstitutional. Prof. Colin Miller reports that the state of Illnois finds that a per se bar can be applied to witnesses other than…
Here is an interesting, very fact specific, federal case in which the forensic examination of a computer for child pornography was suppressed. The accused had admitted possessing child pornography, showed the police his computer, but refused a search of it. The police took the computer. Then it sat around for…
Here is an article brought to our attention by FourthAmendment.com. A thoughtful article about the Supreme Court’s "seizure" doctrine, so much a part of the all encompassing reasonable suspicion standard, by David K. Kessler is Free to Leave? An Empirical Look at the Fourth Amendment’s Seizure Standard, 99 J. Crim.…
There are two items in this month’s Journal of Law and Human Behavior with value and relevance to trial practice: an item on interviewing, and an item on how juries make decisions. Here are the titles, more later. Divine, Buddenheim, Houp, Studebaker, and Stolle, Strength of Evidence, Evidentiary Influences, and…
With the increasing release of information regarding the who, what, when, where, of torture approvals comes the need to relook at the court-martial convictions of the low level military personnel who executed the policy. A policy that at the time of the trials was denied, hushed up, or ignored. We…
The Coast Guard has issued an opinion in United States v. McDonald, __ M.J. ___ (C.G. Ct. Crim. App. April 24, 2009). This opinion discusses why the standard trial counsel sentencing argument in drug pop cases is typically erroneous. I call it the typical absence of proof problem for trial…
A Naval Academy midshipman is scheduled to be court-martialed Tuesday at the Navy Yard in Washington on theft and related charges, the school announced Friday. Midshipman 1st Class Julia Kaelberer, of Rialto, Calif., has accepted a plea agreement and will face charges of theft, unlawful entry, making false official statements…
The US Marine acquitted on appeal in a high-profile rape case has left the Philippines, but he could face court martial in the US, officials said. "Following the decision of the Philippine Court of Appeals, Daniel Smith departed the Philippines under the authority of United States military officials," the US…