Military appellate lawyers know the mantra: This Court has an independent obligation to review each case de novo to ensure the factual and legal sufficiency of the findings. Article 66(c), UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 866 (2012); United States v. Turner, 25 M.J. 324 (C.M.A. 1987). In doing so, this Court…
In today’s military I have to wonder what people may be thinking. Some time ago the Army had a prostitution scandal. Now apparently the Navy. Prostitution is illegal and various acts involving prostitution are illegal under the UCMJ. The Stars & Stripes has this report today. The former command master…
The Army JAG Corps has been rocked with some significant sexual assault allegations. One of them involved Major Erik Burris, who until last year was the Chief of Justice (senior prosecutor) at Fort Bragg, NC. He has now been convicted himself of various sexual assault allegations, and has been sentenced…
The FBI reports that allegation of rapes (revised definition) declined 10.1 percent, in the first half of 2014.
No. 14-0660/AR. U.S. v. Michael C. Budka. CCA 20120435. On further consideration of the granted issues (74 M.J. __ (C.A.A.F. Oct. 23, 2014)), and the briefs of the parties, we first conclude that the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals did not abuse its discretion and did not violate…
Remember Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264 (1959)? Here’s the Justia summary. At petitioner’s trial in a state court in which he was convicted of murder, the principal state witness, an accomplice then serving a 199-year sentence for the same murder, testified in response to a question by the Assistant State’s…
Military law and practice requires that any pretrial agreement discussions be conducted between the defense, the prosecutors, and the convening authority. The military judge is not allowed to be involved. The military judge’s involvement is during trial when she reviews a PTA with the accused to ensure it is all…
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces has granted a petition on the following issue: WHETHER APPELLANT RECEIVED INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE WHEN DEFENSE COUNSEL FAILED TO INTRODUCE EVIDENCE WHICH STRONGLY CORROBORATED THE DEFENSE THEORY THAT THE ALLEGATIONS IN THIS CASE WERE FALSE. Here is a link to the AFCCA opinion…
Sgt. Maj. of the Army Ray Chandler announced this week that senior enlisted personnel would be rated on their ability to police online social media activity, in what many are nicknaming the “Facebook bullet” on the non-commissioned officer report (NCOER). So reports Duffelblog. I’ve always been of the view that…