We all laugh at TV shows and movies which we think of as fantasy. The CSI shows, NCIS, JAG, among . We ..get a laugh out of them. But reality may make you cry. Nathan J. Robinson, Forensic Pseudoscience: The Unheralded Crisis of Criminal Justice. Boston Review, November 16, 2015. This past April,…
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
ALAS, POOR TRUTH, WE KNEW YOU
My title is the title of an excellent article in the Air Force Reporter by Thomas G. Becker. Mr. Becker takes on the amount of damage done to military justice and the truth-seeking process because of the changes to Article 32 proceedings.
Can DNA really prove much?
“[I]t is relatively straightforward for an innocent person’s DNA to be inadvertently transferred to surfaces that he or she has never come into contact with. This could place people at crime scenes that they had never visited or link them to weapons they had never handled.” In discussing United States…
Recording while having sex
Because of the current politics surrounding sexual assaults in the military, some are wondering what they can do in advance to avoid a later false claim of sexual assault. This has lead to a suggestion that the interactions should be video recorded, the idea being that the recording will later…
SAPR—suppression of dissent?
Naval Academy Professor Sues Navy Over Free Speech This reports Military.com: A civilian professor at the U.S. Naval Academy is suing the Navy, accusing it of violating his First Amendment right to free speech and chilling academic freedom. Attorneys for Bruce Fleming said Thursday that the professor was denied…
NCIS violates the Posse Comitatus Act–no problem
United States v. Dreyer. A decision from the Ninth. On issues arising from the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA), the en banc court affirmed the district court’s denial of a suppression motion, and remanded to the three-judge panel for consideration of remaining issues, in a case in which the defendant was convicted of one count…
Pinkela update
Today, 5 November 2015, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces granted our petition in United States v. Pinkela, reversed the findings for aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, and affirmed a lesser included offense of assault and battery. United States v. Pinkela, ACCA — I. U.S.C.A.A.F. — I. This…
Transparency in military justice
http://globalmjreform.blogspot.com/2015/11/in-good-to-see-category.html
Bergdahl-CAAF-gov.response
The government filed its answer in Bergdahl v. Burke at CAAF today. You may note on page 1,before getting to the merits. It misidentifies the parties/ Mislabels the name of the pleading (Rule 19(e) calls for an “answer” not a “response”). Misaddresses the document to the judges of the wrong court,…
Bergdhal-NBC amicus
Click to access Bergdahl-NBC-News-Amicus-Brief.pdf See more of the litigation at https://www.court-martial.com/bergdahl-appellate-litigation.html