Court-Martial Trial Practice BlogApparently the R.C.M. 706 Board has been appointed and is projecting an early February report.
Army Times reports.
Articles Posted in Uncategorized
Post-post-trial
Clemency & Parole after a lengthy court-martial sentence can be hard to get. For Navy and Marine Corps cases parole requires a parole plan and a place to live.
The Camp Pendleton-based squad leader is serving an 11-year sentence for killing an unarmed Iraqi civilian. But the sheriff in his hometown in Massachusetts wants to hire him. Reporting from San Diego – A Marine from Camp Pendleton, convicted of murdering an unarmed Iraqi civilian, has a job waiting with the sheriff’s department in his hometown in Massachusetts once he is released, a Navy parole board was told Wednesday.
LA Times reports.
Rapping rap
An Army specialist is in jail, accused of making threats against fellow soldiers, including in a vulgar, violent rap song that describes shooting those responsible for his stop-loss orders.
Spc. Marc Hall, an Iraq veteran based at Fort Stewart, Ga., has been in custody since early December. He’s been charged with “conduct prejudicial to the good order and discipline of the armed forces,” allegedly threatening violence on multiple occasions, according to Army charge sheets.
Stars & Stripes reports.
SEAL update
Navy prosecutors have asked a judge to delay the trials of two SEALs accused in connection with the alleged assault of a reported al-Qaida terrorist — apparently because of evidence issues.
Navy Times reports.
If as is indicated there are classified document issues, then it is clear this trial will take time to complete. Having participated in many classified trials, with one ongoing, over the years I would say that it will take several months to resolve the issues. Each of the counsel may well have to get security clearances established. The time to get clearances will be a function of the classification levels involved. And then there may be Mil. R. Evid. 505 issues.
Behenna update
CAAFLog has this case among the Top-10 for 2009.
Vicki Behenna has 10 minutes to plead her son’s case.
Where does she begin?
Major Hasan
Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the accused Fort Hood shooter and psychologist, has been moved out of Brooke Army Medical Center’s ICU and into its general care unit. Hasan was hospitalized the day of the Fort Hood shootings—November 5—with several serious gunshot wounds.
Reports tothecenter.com.
Military death penalty
The court-martial of Gen. William Hull — who gave up Detroit to the British without a fight during the War of 1812 — began Jan. 3, 1814.
Deemed a coward, Hull was found guilty of dereliction of duty and sentenced to death, but President James Madison later reduced it because of the officer’s impressive Revolutionary War record of service. Historians later concluded that Hull’s actions in August 1812 were correct.
The Detroit Free Press reports.
Blackwater down – update
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina said Justice Department prosecutors improperly built their case on sworn statements that had been given under a promise of immunity. Urbina said the government’s explanations were “contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility.”
And all charges have been dismissed, reports Air Force Times.
In ruling one month before the defendants were to face trial in Washington, Judge Urbina dismissed the case not for its merits, but for the way the government had handled the prosecution, calling the government’s explanations for the improper use of statements “contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility.”
Major Hasan and his restriction
Attorney John Galligan says Maj. Nidal Hasan has excessive restrictions — including a rule barring any visitors when his attorneys are in his hospital room.
Air Force Times reports.
This same rule operates at the pretrial confinement facility. The Brigs are pretty good about letting counsel in to visit for “legal visits.” But there are restrictions on mingling of family visits and “professional” visits.
Stolen valor report
David Vincent Weber arrived last month at a Ramona Veterans of Foreign Wars event in style: two stars on his shoulder and two Purple Heart medals pinned on the front of a Marine Corps
uniform.
Weber, 69, appeared in a federal courtroom in downtown San Diego yesterday with considerably less pomp. He faces a charge under the 2005 Stolen Valor Act of wearing military medals he didn’t earn while passing himself off as a Marine major general at VFW Post 3783’s birthday celebration for the Corps.
SignOn San Diego reports.