Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

CAAF decides Soto and PTA provisions

January 21, 2011 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

United States v. Soto is decided and the findings and sentence have been set aside.

It was always my view that “terms” of a pretrial that clued the judge into sentence limits ought to go in the sentence Part II portion of the pretrial. So for example, a BCD striker clause seems like it ought to be in the Part II. But not according to CAAF. If the MJ knows up front there’s a BCD striker requirement then she knows there’s no BCD protection and likely other protections.

CAAF doesn’t say you can’t have such a provision, they kick that can down the road in footnote 1., they say it must be disclosed to the MJ during the Green/King inquiry.

Up periscope

January 20, 2011 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Air Force Times reports:

A promiscuous Air Force technical sergeant was convicted Wednesday of exposing multiple unwitting sex partners to HIV at swinger parties.

Tech. Sgt. David Gutierrez He has been sentenced to eight years reports Military.com.

A little humor

January 19, 2011 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

You’ll remember the Reserve O-6 who had some public comments about the usefulness of management by PowerPoint.

Thanks to my colleague at futurelawyer.com

Halloween comes early to Quantico

January 18, 2011 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Demonstrators rallied at Quantico in support of Pfc. Bradley Manning on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, singing civil rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome.” One protester tried to hand over a care package to Manning, who is in solitary at Quantico’s brig. It contained a donated CD, CD player, boxer shorts, a book, chocolate, and a Snuggie–but she was told to mail it.

As militarytimes blog notes, Manning and Assange look-alikes are becoming part of the aura around the case.

Crawford-Melendez-Diaz-Blazier-Bullcoming

January 17, 2011 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Professor Friedman has posted the States’ amicus brief in Bullcoming v. New Mexico, along with some rather trenchant dissection of their sky-is-falling and we-are-the-government arguments.

MAJ Hasan update

January 17, 2011 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

John Galligan bemoans the lack of funding to develop mitigation evidence.

The Hasan Defense Request for Additional Mitigation Funding, dated 7 January 2011, submitted to the Special Court-Martial Convening Authority, still has not been acted upon. By comparison, I am not aware of any funding request by US Army prosecutors that has not been timely and favorably approved . . . . . Why am I not surprised?

No John, why are we not surprised? In that respect United States v. Hasan is no different than other cases.

Sociability in DOD

January 17, 2011 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Federal Computer Week reports:

The Defense Department last year laid out the rules for the military’s use of social media with a set of guidelines that are set to expire on March 1.

Now what? That’s the question that people are asking.

Behenna

January 16, 2011 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Courtesy of a poster at CAAFLog here is a link to the motion for a new trial and the affidavit given by Dr. Macdonell.

Senior officer misconduct

January 16, 2011 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

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

January 16, 2011 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

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.