Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

United States v. D.W.B.

Unusual for me, but I did a guilty plea case this week. Going in to the case and throughout the case the client was accused of a lot of offenses, some of which were a course of conduct over a period of time.  Not unusual, right, so we had some…

Army Directive 2015-09 (Implementation of Section 1702 of the NDAA for FY14) Article 32 UCMJ Preliminary Hearing Here are Army procedures in which they attempt to regulate “new” Article 32 hearings. I’ll leave it to you to decide if they are: Authorized. Effective for your case.

The version of the facts contained in the majority opinion is far more convincing than are the facts contained in the record of trial. It is not unusual for an appellate opinion to be selective in reciting the facts of a case relevant to the decision.  This can be attributed…

It has been some time since I’ve had a case where it was necessary to have “cell tower” evidence to “locate” the client. Here is an interesting piece in The New Yorker. On May 28th, Lisa Marie Roberts, of Portland, Oregon, was released from prison after serving nine and a…

As many of you know, when CID/NCIS/OSI/CGIS starts an investigation into you they make a record.  The subject line is your name plus other information.  This is what is know as being “Titled.” That information is submitted to NCIC as the equivalent of an arrest – even though you were…

It is routine for military prosecutors to overcharge in courts-martial.  They feel the more they can pile on the worse it makes the accused look.  So that’s why you might see a charge of murder along with a charge of spitting on the side-walk. One of the areas of frequent…

Teaching point about SVC’s and how the defense may be able to use them to the benefit of the defense. Not too long ago I had a SVC making oral argument on a MRE 412 motion. During the course of the SVC presentation it occurred to me that she was…

In August 2012, I noted a decision made by the Canadian court. Canada has ordered the deportation of a female soldier who fled the U.S. military in order to avoid the war in Iraq, officials said Thursday. [Army Times] Now we have this: More U.S. soldiers could be sent back for…

In this day and age you’d wonder why all appellate decisions are not “published.”  Many of not all are available either to lawyers through a research service or the general public through court websites.  So what’s going on; some attention is being paid to the topic of unpublished opinions. For…