Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

Prof. Colin Miller, Coming Out of the Closet: How Arizona v. Gant Could Lead to the Shrinking of the Scope of Searches Incident to Lawful Home Arrests, 24 April 2009.

At 08.20, 24 April 2009, CAPT Kevin J. Barry, USCG (Ret.) became an honor graduate of life.  His death is a loss not just to his family and friends but to the military justice community as a whole.  Kevin worked hard and long as an advocate for his clients, for…

Here is the 21 April 2009 Supreme Court decision in Arizona v. Gant.  Basically it limits the scope of a warrantless car search.  In the course of its decision the court did not overrule New York v. Belton, 453 U. S. 454 (1981), but concluded Belton was misunderstood and misapplied.…

D.C. Circuit remands case for district court to determine which company records, including from an internal investigation, were material to the defendant’s defense “and to protect against the public disclosure of material documents in a manner consistent with Thompson’s right to a fair trial,” in United States v. Thompson, __…

Here is a good article in the FBI LEB. M. Wesley Clark, Searching Cell Phones Seized Incident to Arrest, 78(2) FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 25 (Feb. 2009).

One of the most potentially influential Supreme Court decisions for trial practitioners is still pending a decision – Melendez-Diaz.  This is the issue of forensic reports as testimonial under Crawford.  The betting appears to be that it will be a mind-blower written by Justice Scalia. On 6 April 2009, Professor…

Army Lawyer, March 2009.

I take some back, almost. Again I was looking at the NKO Criminal Law Division’s practice tips and I came across this one dealing with the ““Blackout” defense to alcohol facilitated sexual assault.”  No, it’s not.  This title implies that the accused has deliberately gotten the complaining witness drunk.  This…

Jayme Evans, JAG Corps “Keistered” Justice In Foster Case, Canadian Free Press, 20 April 2009. No military prosecutions in recent history have garnered as much negative publicity for the U.S. Marines as have the cases of the Marines of 3/1 Kilo Company, ambushed in Haditha, Iraq, in November of 2005.…

Here’s an interesting Order published at Goodfellow AFB, which prohibits military personnel assigned to the 17th Training Wing from traveling to certain parts of Mexico. [T]he border areas of Mexico, including Tijuana, Nogales, Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Acuna, Piedras Negras, and Reynosa/Matamoros. All active duty members, reservists and guardsmen in Title…