The Navy Times reports:
The civilian attorney for a cruiser skipper fired for cruelty and mistreatment of her crew told a board of inquiry in his opening statement Tuesday that his client had been the victim of a sexist and vengeful wardroom of incompetent officers and an inspector general’s investigation with a foregone conclusion.
Prior posting about this and other CO firings here and here.
Now available:
Command Influence: A story of Korea and the politics of injustice, Robert A Shaines
Robert A. Shaines today announced the release of Command Influence, A Story of Korea and the Politics of Injustice, published by Outskirts Press. Shaines’ fascinating peek into this less than honorable moment in American history shows not only the wholesale problems that permeated the military justice system at that time, but also the lack of preparedness of America to engage in the Korean War, both in terms of our foreign policy and our military’s lack of equipment and training.
Professor Colin Miller has this useful reminder of the effects from Berghuis v. Thompkins.
Say Anything?: Jeopardy Question About New Miranda Opinion Gets It Almost Completely Correct
Last night’s episode of Jeopardy! featured the category "A Murder Investigation," with The Closer’s Kyra Sedgwick reading the clues. The $1000 clue in the category was:
Here is an interesting read. Kathrine J. Chapman, The Untouchables: Private Military Contractors’ Criminal Accountability under the UCMJ, 63 VANDERBILT L. REV. 1047 (2010).
The author argues that:
PMCs must be held accountable for their criminal actions, not merely to provide personal justice for those injured by their crimes, but also for the strategic objectives of organizing the U.S. military’s
available manpower effectively and retaining the support of citizens both domestic and abroad. At the same time, it is simply impractical to bring criminal sanctions against all PMCs for every possible crime
that they might commit. Criminal sanctions against contractors should, at the very least, reach egregious crimes and should focus on quasi-military PMCs. Operating at the battlefront, quasi-military PMCs pose the greatest threat to the U.S. military’s ability to control the contingency operation. Additionally, because they bear arms and wear uniforms like members of the U.S. military, the local populace is more likely to attribute their actions to the U.S. military. By providing justice for victims, criminal sanctions will further the strategic goal of winning the locals’ support and trust during counterinsurgency efforts.
Navy Times reports:
A cruiser skipper who was fired for cruelty and mistreatment of her crew will go before a Navy board of inquiry Tuesday that will recommend whether she can continue her Navy service.
A Behanna update by Army Times:
Takepart notes:
Of course, Robinson didn’t begin his fight for equal rights overnight. While enlisted, Robinson was court-martialed for refusing to sit at the back of the bus — eleven years before Rosa Parks. Faced with multiple offenses, including public drunkenness (even though Robinson did not drink), the UCLA standout was acquitted of all charges by an all-white jury.
American Heritage Magazine has this introduction to the charges (and a fairly decent history of the case):
Here courtesy of SCOTUSBlog are the relevant documents from Smith v. United States.
Title: Smith v. United States
Docket: 10-18
Issue(s): Whether, when a trial judge’s restriction on the cross-examination of a prosecution witness is challenged on appeal as a violation of the Confrontation Clause, the proper standard of review is de novo or abuse of discretion.
And to round out here is the CGCCA opinion.
There are several decisions:
United States v. Sanchez is back with the same result. There was a time when the SJAR used to be a long and complete and thorough briefing sheet to the commander acting post-trial. Because of a very very few lost cases on post-trial delay and the amount of work required the SJAR has developed into a “I read the case, approve it.” Thus the “advice” has been moved behind closed doors. Can anyone imagine that when a CO wants to talk about granting clemency on a case she doesn’t call in the SJA for advice which, without a written document, is unknown. Yes, we have gotten here because of all of the litigation over the years because of inaccurate or erroneous advice. So, rather than enforce giving “balanced” (see Sanchez), accurate, and correct advice we now have a situation where the CO gets as much unbalanced, potentially biased, and potentially wrong information as the SJA is able to give. What a cure. But the defense does have a role to play in this.
It seems to me that trial defense counsel should go back to the earlier SJAR forms and create a macro document similar to that old SJAR. A tasker for the chief defense counsels at their next annual meeting. Have the paralegal go through the ROT and other documents and basically fill in the data. The CO isn’t going to read through the ROT and the SJA can’t be relied upon to tell her the good stuff. For that matter, why not start the document prior to trial. That way you can prepare for trial better. You are already working on the I-Love-Me book, and the paralegal is often working on the index, so why not go a little further. The AF has a good start with their PDS that’s prepared for court.
Adding to this years catalog of Navy CO’s fired the Navy Times reports.
The Navy has fired the commanding officer of the attack submarine Memphis as 10 members of his crew are under investigation in an alleged cheating ring involving shipboard training exams, according to a Navy release.
See prior post here about Relief for Cause of Navy commanding officers.
Fox News reports
A key intelligence report that could aid accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan’s defense is being withheld by the Obama administration, according to a letter obtained by Fox News as part of its ongoing investigation of a radical American cleric. . . . . John Galligan, Hasan’s defense attorney, told Fox News that he requested the White House intelligence report nearly a year ago, and it is only now that he has officially been told the information will not be available.
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
