A United States Marine Corps court-martial has sentenced a Marine, who came to a belief in non-combatancy shortly after signing a two-year re-enlistment, to seven months in jail, rather than separating him from the military. Observers say this is a highly unusual outcome for such a case, which is usually handled less drastically.
/tip, Adventist News Network.
Court-martial of 2 soldiers weighed in Iraq discipline cases, by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY, 11 October 2009.
The U.S. Army is weighing whether to prosecute two soldiers charged with maltreatment and cruelty of their troops, including a soldier who committed suicide just four days after joining the unit in Iraq.
Ten soldiers testified over the weekend that Staff Sgt. Bob Clements and Sgt. Enoch Chatman regularly punished them with verbal abuse and grueling exercise. The soldiers also described how Pvt. Keiffer Wilhelm, 19, of Plymouth, Ohio, was hazed and treated roughly by Chatman and Clements before the private killed himself Aug. 4.
Here’s a neat article by Robert Fugate, Defining Terms of Art in Legal Writing, Texas Bar J., 748, October 2009.
/tip New legal writer.
There has been some attention to sex and labor trafficking in the military, witness the issue of prostitution.
Trafficking in Sex and Labor: Domestic and International Responses
Presented by The University of Pennsylvania Law Review
A Robstown soldier was sentenced to 36 months in a military prison after pleading guilty to various charges that included failure to report to duty and impersonating a commissioned officer.
Pfc. James Gonzalez pled guilty at an October 2 general court martial held at Fort Hood in San Antonio for his disappearance July 11 that the soldier’s family initially claimed was the result of a kidnapping.
The soldier’s brother, Jose Cruz Gonzalez, told authorities that a ransom call was made to his mother’s home demanding $100,000 cash and the removal of all U.S. troops from the U.S./Mexico border.
That’s the headline in the Capital Flyer, Andrews AFB.
In September 2009, a Joint Team Andrews Air Force staff sergeant pled guilty to the wrongful use of marijuana in violation of Article 112a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Her wrongful use was initially detected during a random urinalysis inspection. A military judge sentenced the staff sergeant to 75 days confinement, reduction to E-1, and a bad conduct discharge.
CAAFLog has pointed to the following article:
Appellate review of military commissions, Thursday, October 08, 2009, Eugene R. Fidell, on Balkinization.
As Mr. Fidell points out, a “terrorist” tried and convicted at Guantanamo in a military commission has more appellate rights than the service-members who may have captured them and the service-members who are guarding them
Argument Recap: Maryland v. Shatzer | courtesy SCOTUSblog.
I had posted the link to the argument transcript, but here is a good summary for those without time to read the full transcript.
That’s the headline of an article on WTOC.com,
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 6:37 PM EST
FT. STEWART, GA (WTOC) – The court martial date for
PLYMOUTH – The four soldiers accused of harassing U.S. Army Pvt. Keiffer P. Wilhelm before he committed suicide Aug. 4 will be court-martialed.
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog