Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
Courtesy of a poster at CAAFLog here is a link to the motion for a new trial and the affidavit given by Dr. Macdonell.
Have Briefcase (and
Internet), Will TravelFor a Free Consultation
Senior officer misconduct
A general lost his joint command because he inappropriately touched female subordinates and made off-colored remarks in private and public meetings, according to the Pentagon’s top investigator. . . . Chambers has declined requests for comment twice, immediately after his dismissal and after Air Force Times obtained the inspector general’s findings Dec. 27 through a Freedom of Information Act request. He is now serving as a special assistant to the commander of the Air Force District of Washington, D.C., while Air Force Secretary Michael Donley reviews his case.
Up periscope
Navy Times reports the Honors “debate.”
In one view, echoed online by thousands of angry supporters, the risqué aspect of Capt. Owen Honors’ videos simply reflected shipboard life and were funny escapes from the often-tedious routine of deployment; offended crew members of the carrier Enterprise could simply look away. Honors was an excellent leader, they say, and became the victim of political correctness gone amok.
Others, including several former commanding officers who spoke with Navy Times, largely disagree. Honors should have realized how far he’d climbed out on a limb, regardless of whether those videos would be viewed outside the ship.
False confessions anyone
The aim of this study was to model various social and cognitive processes believed to be associated with true and false confessions by exploring the link between investigative biases [1] and what occurs in the interrogation room. Using the Russano et al. (Psychol Sci 16:481–486, 2005) paradigm, this study explored how perceptions of guilt influenced the frequency and type of interrogation tactics used, suspect’s perceptions of the interrogation process, the likelihood of confession, and investigator’s resulting perceptions of culpability. Results suggested that investigator bias led to the increased use of minimization tactics and thereby increased the likelihood of false confessions by innocent participants. In contrast, the manipulation of investigator bias had no direct or indirect influence on guilty participants. These findings confirm the important role of investigator bias and improve our understanding of the decision-making process associated with true and false confessions.
Fadia M. Narchet, Christian A. Meissner and Melissa B. Russano, Modeling the Influence of Investigator Bias on the Elicitation of True and False Confessions, J. Law & Human Behavior (Dec. 2010).
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Zander watch alert
Do you remember Marine Captain Zander? A distinguished graduate of the Naval Justice School, and having participated in reviewing about 200 of his ROT’s a pretty good trial lawyer viewed against his contemporaries. I posted about his activities in 2009, “I’ve been Zandered! Who remembers that name?” Well he’s back – in court.
Deseret News reports.
A BYU law school graduate who passed himself off as a decorated war veteran and licensed military attorney faces more than two dozen federal charges, including allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from the Paiute Indian Tribe.
Dockets
The Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary page links to the docket for WESTPAC (which includes Okinawa and Yoko). However, to get the Navy docket at Pearl Harbor you will find it at the Brig website. Interestingly the Navy appears to have tried four cases since 29 November, and one of those appears to have been a two-day Article 86 summary court-martial, and one was a Coastie.
Police created exigent circumstances
I don’t know that we’ve had this issue come up in military cases, but there’s a first time for everything. Plus this case highlights potentially confusing “tests” that arise from different courts.
During oral argument in Kentucky v. King on Wednesday, the Court struggled to find the proper test for determining when police are prohibited from justifying a warrantless search with exigent circumstances that they create. Because neither side supported the Kentucky Supreme Court’s two-prong test, a straightforward affirmance seems very unlikely; instead, the Court focused on whether the state’s proposed “lawfulness” test or another of the five tests currently being used by lower courts is best.
H/T to SCOTUSBlog.
800-pound gorilla–Not!
In a number of cases Judge Wiss made the statement about the CCA’s that
"[T]here are some places where even ‘the proverbial 800-pound gorilla’ is not free to roam."
See e.g., United States v. Parker, 36 M.J. 269, 273 (C.M.A. 1993)(citing United States v. Bethea, 22 U.S.C.M.A. 223, 46 C.M.R. 223 (1973)) (Wiss, J. concurring).
Up periscope
Coastline Courier reports:
The start date in a Fort Stewart soldier’s death penalty case has been delayed, to give the defense time to have their experts examine additional evidence and to accommodate witnesses coming to the United States from Iraq.
Army Times reports a change in status:
Enterprise
Military.com reports:
The Navy says a second officer has been transferred from his job pending investigation into the showing of lewd videos on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
Rear Adm. Dennis Moynihan, a Navy spokesman, said Thursday that Rear Adm. Lawrence Rice has been transferred out of his job at Joint Forces Command. His retirement planned for Feb. 1 is being delayed.