Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

LTC Lakin sitrep

September 25, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

It has been (fill in the blank) days since LTC Lakin has been denied some discovery and witnesses for his case. His website has been updated in one place to say “Judge To Rule On Defense Request,” but the breaking news column still has the old verbiage, “Judge to Rules On Defense Request.” Of course we all know the judge has ruled. The point is though that someone is updating the site. The ruling has been adverse to LTC Lakin. I think we can say that the site managers have deliberately avoided placing adverse information on the site. Here’s some questions.

LTC Lakin and his attorney are advertising the case on the internet and a website is being used to solicit funds for LTC Lakin’s defense (we can take issue with the purported amount, compare for example an estimate of $100,000.00 to defend PFC Bradley Manning the Wikileaks accused). Mr. Jensen’s website links back to safeguardourconstitution “For More Information Visit the Case Site.” Is the advertising for funds truthful at this point, if the advertising is not truthful at this point is LTC Lakin himself complicit in a lack of truthfulness, and if LTC Lakin is complicit in this is he acting as an officer and a gentleman? At what point, if any, and I think this question goes beyond LTC Lakin, is a client responsible for “advertising” about their case which is ongoing? At what point is an attorney responsible for the accuracy of his or her advertising about a case they have ongoing? To what extent is advertising about an ongoing case consistent with Rule 3.6 of the Army (or similar other Service rule) professional responsibility rules – AR 27-26. As we bloggers know the Army has been reluctant to publically discuss and/or release LTC Lakin’s case.

Subsequent to the 2 September 2010 ruling LTC Lakin through counsel has said publically a number of times that an extraordinary writ will be filed. To date no writ appears to have been filed. The next scheduled event is for an Article 39(a), UCMJ, hearing on 28 September 2010. So now what?

Ramrod Five sitrep

September 25, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Here is an interesting piece from Wired about the potential of command cover up and similar acrtivity in this set of cases.

I got to the Wired piece through this from congressmatters.com blog.

When bad news breaks it has become almost routine for those at the top to disavow all knowledge and let the hammer come down on those well down in the hierarchy. The pattern showed up again twice this week, and is now so common as to be almost standardized.

Ramrod Five sitrep

September 24, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The Seattle Times reports the pending court-martial case:

Spc. Jeremy Morlock, a 22-year-old Army soldier from Wasilla, Alaska, will face charges in connection with the murders of three Afghan civilians and other crimes at a hearing scheduled Monday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

And here’s a Foreign Policy note.

Prosecutorial misconduct

September 24, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Here’s a link to the USA Today piece.

Federal prosecutors are supposed to seek justice, not merely score convictions. But a USA TODAY investigation found that prosecutors repeatedly have violated that duty in courtrooms across the nation. The abuses have put innocent people in prison, set guilty people free and cost taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees and sanctions.

Judges have warned for decades that misconduct by prosecutors threatens the Constitution’s promise of a fair trial. Congress in 1997 enacted a law aimed at ending such abuses

New Army Lawyer

September 24, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The August Army Lawyer is online. My initial look found this one article of potential interest to MJWonks.

Warrior King: The Triumph and Betrayal of an American Commander in Iraq, by LTC Nathan Sassaman.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Sassaman believes in winning.3 He won as West Point’s quarterback, and he preached the virtue of rising after a fall as an Army officer. In Warrior King, Sassaman attempts to win back his public image after involvement in a notorious incident of detainee abuse early in the Iraq War.

Quintanilla sitrep

September 21, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The LA Times is reporting that Quintanilla was sentenced to life today.

Well that’s a relief

September 20, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

I posted several pieces about the Navy and relief’s for cause in the last few weeks – here.

Well here at two more: another Norfolk CO, and another Bangor bubblehead.

A Randolph nuance

September 18, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Courtesy of FourthAmendment.com here is a good case to know about.

Defendant and his wife got into a domestic dispute, and she called the police to tell them about his illegal firearms. They came to the scene and she consented to the search. He was there and vociferously objected. The police searched anyway. The search violated Randolph. Moreover, the defendant’s objections put the police on notice that she probably did not have apparent authority to consent. United States v. Tatman, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 19220, 2010 FED App. 0604N (6th Cir. September 13, 2010) (unpublished).

Go Mori

September 18, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Marine Corps Times reports:

A Marine Corps attorney says his vigorous defense of a terrorism suspect held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp delayed his promotion by three years. Now he is taking the Navy to court alleging that he was punished for doing his job.

Go Dan!

Military justice book

September 18, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The Chronicle reports:

Barbara (Obremski) Allen, widow of Chester native First Lt. Louis Allen, will host a book-signing of her new release “Front Toward Enemy” On Saturday, Oct. 23 from 3-6 p.m., at John S. Burke Catholic High School in Goshen.

When Lt. Allen was murdered in Iraq in 2005 he left behind Barbara and their four sons ages 20 months to 6 years. While the Sergeant accused of his murder signed a confession, it was rejected and he eventually walked out of the Army and his court martial a free man. This is the impossible story.