Court-Martial Trial Practice

Military.com reports:

The commander of a guided-missile destroyer has been relieved of command while the Navy investigates allegations of misconduct.

The San Diego-based Third Fleet says Cmdr. Jay Wylie of the USS Momsen was relieved Wednesday due to “loss of confidence in his ability to command.” He was reassigned to a San Diego post.

Here’s an interesting report from the National Institute of Justice.  The writers find that SOR has little effect on the rate or recidivism of sex offenders in New Jersey.  They reference, The New Jersey study report Megan’s Law: Assessing the Practical and Monetary Efficacy is available at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/225370.pdf.

Sex offense rates in New Jersey have been on a consistent downward trend since 1985. During this period, rearrests for violent crime (whether sex crimes or not) also decreased. When the researchers examined the decline in each county and then examined the state as a whole, the resulting statistical analysis showed that the greatest rate of decline for sex offending occurred prior to 1994 and the least rate of decline occurred after 1995. Hence the data show that the greatest rate of decline in sex offending occurred prior to the passage and implementation of Megan’s Law.

Megan’s Law did not reduce the number of rearrests for sex offenses, nor did it have any demonstrable effect on the time between when sex offenders were released from prison and the time they were rearrested for any new offense, such as a drug, theft or sex offense.

Navy Times reports:  Two sailors assigned to the naval hospital at Camp Lejeune, N.C., are being described as “persons of interest” in a child molestation and child pornography investigation that has netted a local woman on charges that include the molestation of her 5-year-old niece.

Yes, I got my copy of the NIJ Journal, so here’s another interesting article available on the web.  Solving the Problem of Untested Evidence in Sexual Assaults, by Nancy Ritter.

The National Institute of Justice has now put The Fingerprint Sourcebook, by the Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology (SWGFAST), et al., March 2011, Chapters 1, 4 – 8,  10 – 13, and 14 – 15 on line.  It appears that the remaining chapters will be published “in stages.”

I was particularly interested in Chapter 15: Special Abilities and Vulnerabilities in Forensic Expertise (pdf, 24 pages), By Tom Busey and Itiel Dror, which concludes:

In a post-Daubert environment, there is a need for additional research in the field of friction ridge science. Certainly any science wishes to expand the depth and breadth of knowledge of the discipline. We in the fingerprint expert community must attempt to challenge and study further the laws and theories that comprise our discipline.  Specifically, we must focus our efforts to reevaluate the basic tenets of individualizing friction ridges using modern and enhanced technologies, which were not available in Galton’s day. There are many unanswered or partially answered questions regarding the individuality of friction ridge skin and the forensic comparison of friction ridge impressions.  Although significant advances have been made, many of them in just the last two decades, this is really only the tip of the iceberg. With the advent of newer, more powerful technologies, software, and computer algorithms, we have opportunities to explore our vast fingerprint databases and quickly growing palmprint databases.  We need to assess and quantify the full extent of variation of friction ridge features, starting with perhaps the most basic (patterns and minutiae—if one can truly call this “basic”) and then attempt to assess and quantify other features such as creases, scars, edge shapes, and so forth.  

Military.com reports:

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said April 27 that the spate of firings of senior officers involves only a small portion of the commanding officer corps and doesn’t hint at a wider problem across the fleet. . . . [this fosters accountability] . . . “Since 2005, we have dismissed less than 1 percent of our commanding officers[.]

Here’s another one reported by Navy Times.

The National Law Journal has this piece:  Head in the sand over prosecutorial misconduct.

The Supreme Court has sent a disturbing message that it just doesn’t realize there is a serious problem infecting our criminal justice system.

EvidenceProf blog reports on Commonwealth v. Patterson, 2011 WL 1520025 (Mass.App.Ct. 2011).

It is not very often that a defendant claims that a criminal prosecution violated both his Second Amendment and Sixth Amendment rights, but that was exactly the case in Commonwealth v. Patterson, 2011 WL 1520025 (Mass.App.Ct. 2011).

Here’s the confrontation point.

Yes, I know we’re all tired about hearing of this case, but:

Washington Wire reports:

The White House today posted on its blog a copy of President Barack Obama’slong form birth certificate from the State of Hawaii, along with copies of an April 22, 2011 letter from Mr. Obama’s lawyer requesting that the Hawaii State Department of Health waive its policy of releasing only the short form birth certificate.

Outside the Wire reports:  A spate of high-profile violent crimes committed by Fort Drum, N.Y. soldiers,  is being blamed on an increase in population and not combat stress, the Watertown Times reports.

Navy Times reports:  Naval Medical Center San Diego admitted 15 sailors over a five-month period last year for use of a synthetic drug that mimics marijuana, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday.  Side effects of the drug often known as spice include hallucinations, paranoia and confusion that can become debilitating, doctors said, adding that symptoms can often last days.

Stars & Stripes reports that Mr. Galligan will meet with the commander at Fort Hood in May to discuss a non-capital referral.