Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

SEAL case: trial venue changed to Iraq [correction]

January 11, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

A military judge has decided to move the trial for one of three Navy SEALs accused in connection with the alleged assault of a suspected terrorist to Iraq.

Cmdr. Tierney Carlos, the trial judge for the court-martial of Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class (SEAL) Jonathan Elliot Keefe, has agreed with defense motions to move the April 6 trial to Camp Victory in Iraq so Keefe can face the alleged victim, Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the government sought to depose in lieu of a trial appearance.

“If he is available for a deposition, then he is available for trial,” Carlos said.

Its Briscoe time

January 10, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Yep, tomorrow is 11 January 2010. Briscoe v. Virginia will be argued at the U. S. Supreme Court. The link will take you to SCOTUSWiki which has all of the relevant pleadings and decisions.

Fragging and rapping

January 10, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Here is an interesting piece relevant to a pending court-martial?

Tim King, The Fragging of American Officers: Historic Problems and Future Planning, Salem-News.com.

What we call fragging the British Navy called "Shot Rolling" after the practice of rolling a cannon ball across the deck for the purpose of injuring an officer. The methods may vary but the results are the same^.

Stolen Valor report

January 10, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Whether Robert White was injured in Iraq in 2005 and deserved a Purple Heart makes no difference now.

The chief hospital corpsman wore the award without receiving it through official channels, and in the Navy’s eyes, that makes him a faker.

Marine Corps Times reports.

Impeachment by prior conviction

January 9, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Every so often the comes up of impeachment by prior conviction under Mil. R. Evid. 609. The reminder is that:

The fact of a pending appeal does not defeat admission, but it may be brought up and discussed. Mil. R. Evid. 609(e).

A summary court-martial may not be used to impeach under this rule. There may be other ways to impeach with conduct subject to discipline at a summary court-martial, but not Mil. R. Evid. 609. (Further evidence that an SCM is not considered a “conviction?”)

Major Hasan update

January 9, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The Killeen Daily Herald reports that LTG Cone recently gave a briefing about “behavioral health care.”

The Army is behind Fort Hood’s effort to address behavioral health care issues and plans to institute it across the board, the post’s commander said Friday.
In response to incidents like the Nov. 5 shooting and an Army-wide increase in suicides, Fort Hood officials implemented the Behavioral Health Care Plan, a two-year process which is set to undergo periodic reviews and leverage the "whole of community" to accomplish tasks in several phases, Cone said. The goal is to make sure everyone who needs behavioral health care is reached and that its capabilities and capacities are right for Fort Hood’s soldiers, families and the civilian workforce.
Cone also talked about a Recovery and Resiliency Task Force, part of which includes a comprehensive approach to identify, diagnose and holistically treat those impacted by events like the Nov. 5 shooting at the post’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center where 13 were killed and more than 30 were wounded when a gunman opened fire.

During the briefing apparently the following was said about Major Hasan and his pending court-martial issues.

Rapping rap II

January 9, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

A few days ago I posted about the military rapper pending court-martial for his music.

It seems that he has a website and is now “promoting himself as the first hip hop president of the world, reports Coastal Courier.com. (Caution bad language.)

Senior Guardsman to be court-martialed for malfeasance in office?

January 9, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

A top official in the Massachusetts National Guard faces possible removal by court-martial after state and federal investigations uncovered a range of alleged improprieties, including misusing federal money, hiring a convicted felon to do legal work, and threatening a whistleblower.

Yesterday, Murray received a hand-delivered letter accusing him of “waste, fraud, and abuse’’ and ordering him to resign by day’s end or face a court-martial convened by Governor Deval Patrick. State officials could not find a documented court-martial in recent Massachusetts history.

Murray informed the Guard that he would fight the charges, officials said.

Major Hasan update pretrial confinement conditions.

January 8, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Hasan is paralyzed from the chest down and bedridden in a military hospital in San Antonio, says Galligan. He says the U.S. Army command has imposed rules that allow for a closed-circuit television camera in Hasan’s room for Hasan’s and others’ safety; bar visits from anyone except Hasan’s family members and his lawyers and limit those visits to one hour (Galligan does not know if this time limit is per day or per visitor); require all visitors to provide picture identification; restrict all communications with Hasan to English; and require that an interpreter be present if another language is spoken.

Law.com reports.

I don’t have any legal quibble with restricting visitors to family members. That’s certainly the type of discretion and restriction you might see in pretrial confinement facilities, as well as post-trial situations. Visitation has to be a balance between allowing visits and concerns for security. As most regulations say:

Major Hasan update – is this wise

January 8, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Belton, Texas, solo John Galligan, who represents Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, says he has added a close relative of Hasan’s from out of state to the defense team as of Tuesday. Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who allegedly went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, is facing a possible court martial.

Galligan says he added the relative to make it possible for that relative to visit with Hasan for more than a few hours a week and to do so without being observed and possibly videotaped by Army investigators. Galligan declines to identify the relative.

Law.com reports.