On 28 January 2015, DoD issued an instruction (DODI 1304.33) protecting against inappropriate relationships during recruiting and entry level training. Paragraph 1.a.(1)(k) of Enclosure (3) of this instruction expressly prohibits recruiters and trainers providing entry level training from soliciting donations from a recruit or trainee. Apparently there have been questions…
I am for (and against) the SVC program. I am mostly for it because it is necessary. Over the years and prior to the Air Force start there were regulations in place that required the trial counsel to inform the “victim” of what was happening in the case and get…
A couple of items have come across the transom today which are worth the read to military practitioners. James E. Baker, Is Military Justice Sentencing on the March? Should it be? And if so, Where should it Head? Court-Martial Sentencing Process, Practice, and Issues, Fed. Sentencing Rep. Dec. 2014, at 72-87.…
When [persnonnel] hear nothing but one side of controversial issues for their entire time[], what you have is not true education but Maoist indoctrination in the guise of education. When the academic consensus on any issue with political overtones can be predicted with 100% certainty merely by identifying the Politically…
There is a conflict of opinion concerning the authority of this Court to reassess sentences. The language of Article 66(c), UCMJ, its legislative history, and the decision of the Supreme Court in Jackson v. Taylor, 353 U.S. 569, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1045, 77 S. Ct. 1027 (1957), give this…
The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals recently, in United States v. D.W.B., __ M.J. ___ (N-M Ct. Crim. App. 2015), had to decide “a complex and controversial topic: the admissibility of a witness’s testimony regarding memories recovered through a psychotherapeutic approach known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).” …
Observer Media asks: When will they ever learn? Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski declared months ago in a much-quoted opinion that there is “an epidemic of Brady violations abroad in the land.” And yet, prosecutors continue to deny there’s a problem. Indeed, the Department of Justice gets outright indignant at the suggestion,…
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.