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No. 15-0476/AR. U.S. v. Eric L. Rapert. CCA 20130309.  On consideration of the petition for grant of review of the decision of the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals, it is ordered that said petition is hereby granted on the following issue:

WHETHER THE FINDING OF GUILTY FOR CHARGE I AND ITS SPECIFICATION FOR COMMUNICATING A THREAT IS LEGALLY INSUFFICIENT BECAUSE THE COMMENTS ARE CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED AND DO NOT CONSTITUTE A THREAT UNDER THE TOTALITY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND IN LIGHT OF THE SUPREME COURT’S DECISION IN ELONIS v. UNITED STATES, 575 U.S. __, 135 S. Ct. 2001 (2015).

Jershun v. State (FL).

TheDOD IG Semiannual Report to the Congress has been issued for the reporting period of October 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015 is on line.  The report complies with a requirement of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended.   The report is a summary.

• DoD IG issued 103 reports, identifying $101.1 million in questioned costs and $261.6 million in funds put to better use.
• $41.1 million in financial savings based on management-completed corrective actions to reports issued during this and previous reporting periods.

6 June is Leg Day for Navy Appellate Defense.

Happy leg day all.

United States v. Nettles decided by CAAF today.

We granted review to determine whether the Air Force had personal jurisdiction over Appellant at the time of his courtmartial. We hold that it did not, and that therefore the judgment of the United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is vacated, the findings and sentence are set aside, and the case is dismissed.

Michael G. Heyman, Professor Emeritus, The John Marshall Law School (Chicago) .

Due Process Limits on Accomplice Liability

In a prior piece in this journal, I noted some disturbing developments in the law of

Protect Our Defenders (POD) has this to say about the recent vote on Sen. Gillibrand’s Military Justice Improvement Act.

Last week, 50 U.S. Senators stood with survivors and voted for Senator Gillibrand’s Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA).

For two years in a row, a majority of the Senate has told the Pentagon to fix the arbitrary and biased military justice system. Unfortunately, this common-sense legislation was blocked with a threat of a filibuster, as it was last year, requiring 60 votes to pass instead of a simple majority.

Here is a link to the MCM changes effective 17 June 2015.

The Georgia Supreme Court extends Padilla

In Alexander v. State, decided on May 11, the Georgia Supreme Court agreed that a failure to advise on parole issues from a guilty plea was ineffective assistance under Strickland v. Washington.

Military lawyers know there are two specific areas they must ensure adequate advice about to clients:  the possible impact of sex offender registration and possible adverse citizenship and immigration decisions.  Now–at least in Georgia–you can add one more: impacts on clemency and parole.

Listen up:  “Every occasion of a proved false allegation has an insidious effect on public confidence, sometimes allowing doubts to creep into when one shouldn’t exist.”  Said the judge on sentencing.

That’s right, the failure to hold people accountable for false accusations harms true victims.

Col Christensen of POD says this doesn’t happen and that people don’t make false allegations for these reasons.  Sorry mate, read this.