A Facebook post about military sexual assault training: “There’s no need to try to understand why sexual assaults are up 550% in the Military. All women have no ability to think after one drink and are not responsible for their actions but a Male soldier is responsible for his actions…
The most potentially relevant is McWilliams v. Dunn, No. 16-5294, involves a question regarding the degree of independence needed for appointed mental health experts under Ake v. Oklahoma. Then there are: Weaver v. Massachusetts, No. 16-240: The defendant claims his lawyer was ineffective for failing to object to a closure of…
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces has decided United States v. Wilson, __ M.J. __, No. 16-0267/AR, for the appellant. The issue was: Whether the military judge erred in denying the defense motion for appropriate relief under Rule for Court-Martial 917 where the military judge improperly applied Article…
Courtesy of the Booneville Democrat we now know that Several bills . . . are among a number of bill filings this week at the State Capitol in preparation for the 91st General Assembly regular session. They include: House Bill 1059, by Rep. House, would criminalize the violation of a…
CBS news has picked up this: A former Fort Bragg soldier who killed four women and raped others more than 25 years ago is again headed for execution. The Fayetteville Observer reports Ronald Gray last week lost a battle to keep in place a federal court’s order issued eight years…
“We thus readily conclude that ex parte communications between a military judge and an SVC are generally proscribed.” Yes, inexplicably, it was necessary for the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals (AFCCA) to decide such an issue, as part of deciding what impact, if any, SVC’s ex parte communications had…
On this date in 1894 Captain Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason by a French court-martial. J’accuse. “[A] phrase made famous by Emile Zola in a public letter attacking the irregularities of the Dreyfus trial (published Jan. 13, 1898).” The accusation was enough. Although I think it should also be…
We have all been there. The unsophisticated suspect consents to the taking a search of their cell phone or computers. Or, the MCIO get a search authorization. Then investigators basically go on a fishing expedition for evidence of the current allegations, and anything else they can find–justifying anything else found on…
O’Keeffe, Eamonn (2016) ““Such Want of Gentlemanly Conduct:” The General Court Martial of Lieutenant John de Hertel,” Canadian Military History: Vol. 25: Iss. 2, Article 2. <Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol25/iss2/2> At this court-martial of a junior officer, the British Army assembled 15 more senior officers to serve as the “jury” in…
The SVC also testified at the post-trial Article 39(a), UCMJ, session. When asked by the trial defense counsel if it was the “standard in practice as an SVC to meet with the military judge ex parte,” the SVC stated, “Generally, yes. We’re usually not included in [R.C.M.] 802 conferences, so…