Uncategorized Category Archives — Page 87 of 114 — Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog Published by International Military Lawyer

Crawford – seeking medical care

December 8, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

FederalEvidence blog has posted:

Fifth Circuit addresses an open issue concerning admission of medical statements under the Confrontation Clause; circuit also notes that “there is no constitutional right to confront the victim of a crime” where the government elects not to call the victim at trial, in United States v. Santos, _ F.3d _ (5th Cir. Dec. 2, 2009) (No. 08-31225).

On the issue of “whether out-of-court statements made during medical treatment are testimonial,” the circuit was guided by two recent Supreme Court decision. The first case involved dicta from the Court’s most recent Confrontation Clause decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, noting that “medical reports created for treatment purposes . . . would not be testimonial.” Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 129 S. Ct. at 2533 n.2.

SCOTUS Briscoe scheduled for 11 January

December 8, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Briscoe v. Virginia, a post Crawford and Melendez-Diaz case is scheduled to be argued at the U. S. Supreme Court on 11 January 2010. Professor Friedman will argue for petitioner Briscoe.

Professor Friedman notes that, “I have just served and filed the reply in Briscoe. You can read it by clicking here.”

All of the prior documents about this case can be found at SCOTUSWiki. This case is of importance to military justice practitioners. There are several cases pending within military appellate courts that might be affected by Briscoe, as well as some cases pending at court-martial. Some of my prior comments are here.

Flawed court-martial pretrial system

December 7, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s defense attorney skirmished with Army commanders Wednesday over the timing of a sanity examination for the Fort Hood gunman, saying that his client is still too medically impaired to participate.

So begins a piece in the Dallas News. What’s the flaw. There is no judge that attorney Galligan can go to or appeal to.

"This is getting dirty," lawyer John Galligan said of the Army. "These guys have made it clear that they’re going for blood."

Self-reporting – not

December 7, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The Navy’s rule forcing sailors to “promptly” tell their commanding officers if they have been arrested for an off-base drunken-driving violation is unconstitutional, the Navy and Marine Corps’s highest military judges have ruled.

And so begins a Navy Times article on United States v. Serianne.

I have posted before about the new DoD regulation that requires persons E-6 and above to report all civilian convictions.

Major Hasan’s mental “health”

December 7, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Here are a couple of interesting items exploring the mental health issues potentially involved with Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood – conclusion, he’s sane.

Howard Bloom asks, What if Nidal Malik Hasan is Sane? Psychology Today blog.

Were they the insane acts of a man driven over the edge by the vicarious stress of war? By the strain of hearing horror stories from the traumatized veterans of battles in Iraq and Iran?

No pay due

December 7, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

No pay due, not needed. Army Times reports that a captain stationed at Fort Lewis has plead guilty to stealing about $690,000.00 while in Iraq. No court-martial.

Patient confidentiality in the military

December 7, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

I have posted in connection with some comments about Major Hasan and his desire to have patients prosecuted at court-martial for war crimes and other offenses while deployed to Iraq.

Major Hasan’s war crimes trial requests, 17 November 2009.

The issue has gained new attention with the recent mass shootings at Fort Hood that killed 13 and wounded 43. In the weeks before the rampage, the accused gunman, Maj. Nidal M. Hassan, an Army psychiatrist, told colleagues and Army lawyers that he wanted to report soldiers who had admitted in counseling sessions that they witnessed or committed war crimes in Iraq or Afghanistan. War crimes can include acts like torture, murder, sexual assault and cruel treatment.

Anything and everything

December 6, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

A number of articles are circulating and the blogosphere is discussing the obligations of Major Hasan’s counsel to do anything and everything to avoid the death penalty as a sentence at his court-martial. Here is an interesting item, not that it’s going to be relevant to the Fort Hood case involving Major Hasan, but as an example of how closely IAC is looked at in a death penalty case.

Kiddie porn: Risky to ignore.

Karen Franklin first notes that:

More on Stolen Valor

December 5, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Here is a good site for information about Stolen Valor Act issues.

Web Site Aims to Uncover Fakers in Fatigues

Reportstolenvalor.org.

Another misrepresentation of military service?

December 5, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

I’ve posted before about different cases where a service-member or civilian have “invented” their military career. Two recent examples are here and here. Now there’s another. Military.com reports that a retired senior chief petty officer appears to have fabricated his presence in USS COLE when the ship was attacked.

In early November, retired Senior Chief Jeffrey Sparenberg was the guest of honor at military heritage day in Delaware.

Sparenberg spent 23 years in the Navy, including time on the destroyer Cole, and he was at Fort DuPont State Park that day to donate a flag that he said flew over the Cole shortly after it was attacked nine years ago.