Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

Center for Prosecutor Integrity. An Epidemic of Prosecutor Misconduct. Prosecutor Ethics in Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Cases

How do you get attention, you say: Two-Thirds Of Military Supreme Court Cases Are About CP Perhaps a little known reality is the overwhelming flow of CP appeals into the docket of the U.S. military’s highest appellate court.  About two-thirds of the docket in the U.S. Court of Appeals for…

We often have cases where medical records, mental health records, and other similarly protected records need to be provided to a TC for fowarding to the MJ for an in-camera review. If the TC already has the records and has reviewed them, the proper approach is that the defense gets…

Another tragic tale of tears fed by OSI lies. HONOR AND DECEPTION: A secretive Air Force program recruits academy students to inform on fellow cadets and disavows them afterward By Dave Philipps  Facing pressure to combat drug use and sexual assault at the Air Force Academy, the Air Force has created…

Here’s a report about Australian military justice. http://www.theage.com.au/comment/adf-aint-broke-dont-fix-it-20131128-2ycru.html Unlike the US, since Solorio, the Australians defer most criminal prosecutions to the civilian courts, and they focus on true disciplinary problems.  If nothing else they get cheaper military justice.  I seem to recollect GEN Ordierno estimating $116M to stand up a…

Here is the new Army policy on Army personnel convicted of a sex offense and who don’t get a punitive discharge. ARMY DIRECTIVE 2013-21.pdf 736K   View   Download No orders overseas, and to be returned CONUS if already overseas is an included assignment policy.

Those of us who deal with them know that crime labs are not infallible.  That’s because they are staffed with people.  Here is an ongoing issue that’s coming to some intermediate resolution. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/11/22/246739071/chemist-pleads-guilty-in-massachusetts-crime-lab-scandal Remember USACIL. Remember Brooks AF Drug Lab (and how they initially hid the problem).  http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Gross_Misconduct_at_Military_Crime_Lab.php http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/03/19/142444/army-threatens-to-fire-whistleblower.html http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/12/29/134411/were-army-crime-lab-problems-withheld.html…

Now here is something useful for the policy makers, and by extension defense counsel. Center for Prosecutor Integrity to Establish ‘Registry of Prosecutorial Misconduct’

The Army will soon begin mandatory discharge processing for any Soldier or officer convicted of a sexual assault.  There is no bar to how far they will go back in the persons career, and also it appears it will not matter if the person was allowed to reenlist. Separation proceedings…

CrimLawProfBlog brings a link to a summary of last year’s criminal law cases at the Supremes. The Supreme Court 2012 Term was one in which the Court tackled several of the most critical issues that arise in our criminal justice system. Perhaps most importantly, as the 50th Anniversary of the Court’s…