Court-Martial Trial Practice BlogTDTNews reports that:
Major Hasan may not have been transferred from hospital yesterday as thought was planned.
Mr. Galligan’s chief complaint is a lack of a mitigation specialist assigned to the defense prior to the Article 32, UCMJ, hearing.
Articles Posted in Uncategorized
Google goes ga ga
With all of the hype about Google in China it appears they have decided to change their logo to avoid Chinese intelligence agents.
Google’s explanation is rather odd.
Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. We’ve been wondering ever since how best to honor that moving gesture. Today we are pleased to announce that as of 1AM (Central Daylight Time) April 1st, Google has officially changed our name to Topeka.
Hasan update 4
Fox11.com reports that:
Major Hasan is on his way from hospital to Belton jail where he will be housed at an approximate cost of $206K.
He is wheelchair bound – question, is he a flight risk?
Search & seizure
Here’s a case from New Jersey of some interest, Stengart v. Loving Care Agency, Inc., 2010 N.J. LEXIS 241 (March 30, 2010).
[W]e find that Stengart had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the e-mails she exchanged with her attorney on Loving Care’s laptop.
Stengart plainly took steps to protect the privacy of those e-mails and shield them from her employer. She used a personal, password-protected e-mail account instead of her company e-mail address and did not save the account’s password on her computer. In other words, she had a subjective expectation of privacy in messages to and from her lawyer discussing the subject of a future lawsuit.
Off we go – another birther case
Family Security Matters reports:
A decorated active duty Army medical officer, Lieutenant Colonel Terry Lakin (selected for promotion to Colonel), is calling upon his chain of command and his Congressional delegation to force President Obama to release his original birth certificate. He is the highest ranking officer to go public over this controversy and in late February, was notified that he is subject to near-term deployment to Afghanistan.
A website, SafeguardtheConstitution.com, outlines his efforts to seek the truth and prepare for his legal defense. You can make a tax deductible (?) contribution to his defense fund here.
Hasan update
KWTX.com reports that:
Defense attorney John Galligan said Tuesday he’s asking the Army to delay the hearing that will determine whether Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan will be tried by a military court for the Nov. 5 shooting rampage at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Center that left 13 dead and 29 injured.
Hennis update
Two items came across my screen at about the same time.
The FayObserver reports that:
The judge in the court-martial of Army Master Sgt. Timothy Hennis rejected defense calls for a mistrial this morning.
SEAL cases 300310
Human Events reports that:
One of three Navy SEALs facing a court martial announced at a rally Saturday that he has passed a polygraph test, casting doubt on the Pentagon’s case against him.
Rep. John Shadegg (R.-Ariz.) who attended and spoke at the rally, told HUMAN EVENTS that “while the lie detector test results won’t be admissible in a court of law and their jury will never know that he passed, it is nonetheless important for the American public to know.
Possession of CP and child sexual abuse are the same?
Carissa Byrne Hessick, Disentangling CP from Child Sex Abuse, 88 Washington L. Rev. __ (2010).
Recent years have seen a significant increase in the criminal penalties associated with possession of child pornography. The new severity appears to be premised on arguments that blur the distinction between those who possess images of child pornography and those who sexually abuse children. In particular, sentences have been increased based on arguments that possession of pornography is equivalent to or worse than child sex abuse, arguments that viewing child pornography increases the risk that an individual will sexually abuse a child, and arguments that those who possess child pornography are abusing children undetected. This Article identifies instances where possession of child pornography and child sex abuse have been conflated, critically evaluates the arguments that promote such conflation, and identifies independent concerns with conflation. Specifically, it argues that blurring the distinction between the two crimes allows us to continue to misperceive child sex abuse as a stranger-danger issue, and that when law enforcement statistics aggregate possession and child sex abuse, then the public may be misled into believing that law enforcement is successfully battling child sex abuse, when that is not the case. The Article concludes that the modern trend of increasing sentences for possession of child pornography ought to be reviewed, and it suggests several possible areas of reform.
SEAL case update
Kate Wiltrout of Virginia Pilot reports that:
Prosecutors handling the courts-martial of two local Navy SEALs charged with not stopping a teammate’s alleged assault on an Iraqi detainee faced another setback Friday.
Cmdr. Tierney Carlos agreed to exclude a statement made by one of the SEALs to the special agent investigating the allegations in September because the agent didn’t advise him of his right to remain silent. As a result, one of two charges against Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe likely will be dropped.