Court-Martial Trial Practice

Politico is reporting:  That 15 personnel were “disciplined” as a result of United States v. Manning.  This appears to be partly based on a McClatchy piece.

Wired reports that:  The government is seeking to block Bradley Manning’s attorney’s attempt to call nearly 50 defense witnesses at a pre-trial hearing next week over the private’s alleged leaking of hundreds of thousands of U.S. government documents[.]  Here’s a link to a response from the defense.

Stars & Stripes reports:  A Navy commander who was relieved in August has received a punitive letter of reprimand for misconduct as part of a nonjudicial punishment proceeding.

United States v. Goodman, Army.  4 (Stucky [W], Baker, Ryan, Effron), Dissent in part (Erdmann).  No error in failing to address possible affirmative defense in GP case, because there was nothing inconsistent.  Fosler remand (GP to indecent exposure and bigamy).

United States v.  Pierce, Army.  Certified case.  Ryan for a unanimous  court.  Computer crime case.  The issue being who decides if the internet is a “facility or means of interstate . . . commerce,” and the correctness of the instructions.  The military judge decides.

Here is an interesting piece from North County Times about the lawsuit involving Carolyn Martin.

Government admissions in the civil rights trial of a Southern California woman suing the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for harassment have sparked questions over whether the law enforcement agency overstepped its authority and engaged in domestic spying.

CAAFLog has posted and commented on this case previously.

This week sees oral argument in Williams v. Illinois.  This case may impact urinalysis cases.

Here are the documents in Williams v. Illinois, courtesy of SCOTUSBlog. You need to follow this case because it’s relevant to urinalysis cases based on drug lab results.

Professor Friedman draws attention to several articles:

St. Louis Today reports:  A court-martial acquitted a former military nurse of murder Saturday after he was accused of giving lethal doses of painkillers to hasten the deaths of three terminally ill patients at the Air Force’s largest hospital.

ACCA has scheduled oral argument in United States v. Akbar for 1 February 2012, at the new court facility on Fort Belvoir.

The Washington Times has a rather odd piece on United States v. Pantano.

The court granted a writ of certiorari today in Vasquez v. United States.

Here is a link to the decision at the Seventh.

Here is a link to the petition.  (Not posted on SCOTUSBlog yet).

Stars & Stripes is reporting that Cron has plead guilty to premeditated murder and associated charges, in exchange for PTA.

Boston Globe reports:  An Army sergeant accused of killing his roommate, a Falmouth man, while the two served in Iraq will face a hearing next month that will determine whether the case should go before a court martial, according to the victim’s family.

Navy Times has a piece on one of the CO’s fired in 2010.  The Navy provided only a rough sketch of the conduct and climate when it announced Wilhelm’s relief last year. But the NCIS investigation Rear Adm. Dave Thomas relied upon to mete out discipline, although heavily redacted, is almost a clinic on the wrong way for commanding officers to comport themselves, especially male COs leading female officers.

A female officer said that in early 2010, when the ship was deployed to Haiti, she made a comment in the wardroom that she was hungry. Wilhelm, she said, asked her if she was pregnant. She replied, “No sir, I’m not.” She said he replied, “Good, because if you were, I’d hand you a coat hanger.”

We all have sea stories.  Us older lawyers have many.  To us they are exciting and interesting.  To others, I know . . .   But move beyond the braggadocio  and sea stories can at times be instructive and helpful.  So, with a shout-out to our seagoing brethren, the Coast Guard, let me tell a story which I put in the category of Aids to Litigation.  Now, No-man is going to tell me this is about trials.  But read on, and I think you will see how this story can aid appellate litigation for the appellate lawyers and appellate judges.  OK, the ship is ready for sea in all respects – stand by to cast off.  Ooops, let’s though first set the Sea & Anchor Detail with a cobbled together part of a transcript.

TC:  Tell the members how far away you were when you saw the accused hit the victim.

WIT:  About twenty feet.

Threat Level reports:

The defense attorney representing alleged [W] Bradley Manning plans to call up to 50 witnesses at a pre-trial hearing scheduled to occur next month in Maryland, as well as introduce a number of unspecified motions, according to the organizers of a support group for the soldier.

The witnesses could include Daniel Ellsberg, famed Pentagon Papers leaker, who would talk about the benefit Manning’s alleged leaks provided to the public, as well as technical experts who would speak to the actual evidence on which the charges against Manning are based. The latter might include assessments of forensic evidence from classified networks and databases that contained the sensitive documents Manning is charged with downloading and leaking.