Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
NMCCA published new rules effective 1 July 2020. Not this change. I’m agnostic whether this change will add confusion or not for the litigants.
Rule 17.5. Table of Pseudonyms.
(a) With the exception of merits briefs, all initial briefs in support of an appeal or petition shall include a separate table of pseudonyms filed with the Court under seal. See Appendix K. Notwithstanding the fact that the table is filed under seal, the party filing the table will serve an unredacted copy of the table upon all other parties to the appellate litigation. Absent Order of the Court, all parties and the Court shall use the aassigned pseudonymsin all filings, orders, and opinions.
(b) The table of pseudonyms shall include the name of, and a pseudonym for, every complainant, victim, and witness that testified at trial and any other person, living or deceased—other than the Accused, counsel, and the military judge(s)—that the party references in the brief. The table shall also indicate the relationship the individual has to the case.
(c) Parties desiring to reference individuals not listed in the table of pseudonyms in responsive pleadings shall file along with such pleading a supplemental table of pseudonyms under seal.
(d) The pseudonyms shall be constructed using the same first and last initials of the individual’s actual name, replacing the first name with a gender-corresponding different name and replacing the last name with a generic name using the phonetic alphabet, Greek alphabet, or similar generic common name. Each individual should be given a unique first and last pseudo name, except that related individuals sharing the same actual last name should be given the same pseudo last name. Counsel should not attempt to use pseudonyms that necessarily correspond to the individual’s racial or ethnic back ground.
(e) In filings, counsel may for clarity sake refer to persons—in addition to by their pseudonym—by their relationship to the case, e.g., “Appellant’s roommate,” “Appellant’s mother,” “the Defense consulting psychologist,” etc.