Uncategorized Category Archives — Page 79 of 113 — Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog Published by International Military Lawyer

Air Force theft of classified material – OTHIL approved?

January 13, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Two officers accused of stealing stealing classified material from an underground missile launch facility at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota have been allowed to resign rather than face courts-martial, the military said Wednesday.

A hearing was held in September 2008 to determine whether Borowiecki would face a trial. A supervisor. Capt. David Walbeck, testified at the hearing that Borowiecki wanted the domino-size device as a souvenir because he thought it would be "a cool thing to have." Walbeck also testified that had the technology been compromised, it could have led to "unintended detonation" of a nuclear missile.
The Air Force later downplayed Walbeck’s statement, saying the launch device is one of many safeguards that must work together to ensure security.
The Air Force has said Borowiecki told officials that Abbas had lied by saying he destroyed his device. The Air Force refused to confirm whether that device remains missing.

LA Times reports.

Another “trust me” case

January 12, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

County authorities have dismissed charges and turned over to the Air Force their investigation of an airman accused of fatally shooting a buddy during a game of “Trust” at an off-base apartment.

Air Force Times reports., that there will be a court-martial instead of a civilian trial.

Briscoe update

January 11, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Here is a link to today’s oral argument in Briscoe v. Virginia, the post Crawford and Melendez-Diaz case.

While I’m not convinced the decision will have much meaning in military cases, there are others who believe it will. So it does behoove us to monitor the case.

Stolen Valor report

January 10, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Whether Robert White was injured in Iraq in 2005 and deserved a Purple Heart makes no difference now.

The chief hospital corpsman wore the award without receiving it through official channels, and in the Navy’s eyes, that makes him a faker.

Marine Corps Times reports.

Major Hasan update

January 9, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The Killeen Daily Herald reports that LTG Cone recently gave a briefing about “behavioral health care.”

The Army is behind Fort Hood’s effort to address behavioral health care issues and plans to institute it across the board, the post’s commander said Friday.
In response to incidents like the Nov. 5 shooting and an Army-wide increase in suicides, Fort Hood officials implemented the Behavioral Health Care Plan, a two-year process which is set to undergo periodic reviews and leverage the "whole of community" to accomplish tasks in several phases, Cone said. The goal is to make sure everyone who needs behavioral health care is reached and that its capabilities and capacities are right for Fort Hood’s soldiers, families and the civilian workforce.
Cone also talked about a Recovery and Resiliency Task Force, part of which includes a comprehensive approach to identify, diagnose and holistically treat those impacted by events like the Nov. 5 shooting at the post’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center where 13 were killed and more than 30 were wounded when a gunman opened fire.

During the briefing apparently the following was said about Major Hasan and his pending court-martial issues.

Rapping rap II

January 9, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

A few days ago I posted about the military rapper pending court-martial for his music.

It seems that he has a website and is now “promoting himself as the first hip hop president of the world, reports Coastal Courier.com. (Caution bad language.)

Senior Guardsman to be court-martialed for malfeasance in office?

January 9, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

A top official in the Massachusetts National Guard faces possible removal by court-martial after state and federal investigations uncovered a range of alleged improprieties, including misusing federal money, hiring a convicted felon to do legal work, and threatening a whistleblower.

Yesterday, Murray received a hand-delivered letter accusing him of “waste, fraud, and abuse’’ and ordering him to resign by day’s end or face a court-martial convened by Governor Deval Patrick. State officials could not find a documented court-martial in recent Massachusetts history.

Murray informed the Guard that he would fight the charges, officials said.

Major Hasan update pretrial confinement conditions.

January 8, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Hasan is paralyzed from the chest down and bedridden in a military hospital in San Antonio, says Galligan. He says the U.S. Army command has imposed rules that allow for a closed-circuit television camera in Hasan’s room for Hasan’s and others’ safety; bar visits from anyone except Hasan’s family members and his lawyers and limit those visits to one hour (Galligan does not know if this time limit is per day or per visitor); require all visitors to provide picture identification; restrict all communications with Hasan to English; and require that an interpreter be present if another language is spoken.

Law.com reports.

I don’t have any legal quibble with restricting visitors to family members. That’s certainly the type of discretion and restriction you might see in pretrial confinement facilities, as well as post-trial situations. Visitation has to be a balance between allowing visits and concerns for security. As most regulations say:

Major Hasan update – is this wise

January 8, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Belton, Texas, solo John Galligan, who represents Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, says he has added a close relative of Hasan’s from out of state to the defense team as of Tuesday. Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who allegedly went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, is facing a possible court martial.

Galligan says he added the relative to make it possible for that relative to visit with Hasan for more than a few hours a week and to do so without being observed and possibly videotaped by Army investigators. Galligan declines to identify the relative.

Law.com reports.

Ellsworth 32 status.

January 7, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

An airman shot during a disagreement with a fellow airman appeared indecisive about what actually happened in a Rapid City apartment last September.

Piland recalled fighting with Santana and holding him in a choke hold, but did not remember statements he made to civilian investigators. He also had no recollection of portions of his testimony before a Pennington County grand jury.

Santana initially faced charges in Pennington County for shooting Piland three times. Those charges were dropped and he was turned over to military authorities for prosecution in October.