Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, October 13, the Court will hear arguments in No. 08-651, Padilla v. Commonwealth of Kentucky. At issue in the case is whether a criminal defendant’s guilty plea can be set aside because his defense counsel affirmatively misadvised him with regard to the deportation consequences of the plea, and whether such misadvice constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment. A Denedo question.
CAAF.
Court-martial of 2 soldiers weighed in Iraq discipline cases, by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY, 11 October 2009.
The U.S. Army is weighing whether to prosecute two soldiers charged with maltreatment and cruelty of their troops, including a soldier who committed suicide just four days after joining the unit in Iraq.
Ten soldiers testified over the weekend that Staff Sgt. Bob Clements and Sgt. Enoch Chatman regularly punished them with verbal abuse and grueling exercise. The soldiers also described how Pvt. Keiffer Wilhelm, 19, of Plymouth, Ohio, was hazed and treated roughly by Chatman and Clements before the private killed himself Aug. 4.
Here’s a neat article by Robert Fugate, Defining Terms of Art in Legal Writing, Texas Bar J., 748, October 2009.
/tip New legal writer.
At a September 2009, meeting the Federal Rules Committee approved and forwarded a number of changes to federal practice. Of note to military practitioners, about 2 years from now, is Fed. R. Evid. 804 and its changes. I say that long because Mil. R. Evid. 1102 doesn’t require adoption until 18 months after the federal rule is adopted.
Here is a link to the report. the proposed amendment starts at page 167 in .pdf view.
Barbara Rich Bushell, Identifying Leaders, 21(5) The Jury Expert, Sept. 2009.
When I initially read this piece I did not see any relevance to a military Members panel (the jury). The military “foreperson” is preselected, and will be automatically selected after challenges – it’s the senior Member by rank and date of rank. However, after a few more readings there do seem to be some potential ideas from the piece. So lets moot a little.
1. The senior member is not a leader in the traditional military sense and will defer to others in certain situations – maybe she’s the medical type. You need to know who the alternate leader is, the one who is likely to take over in the deliberation room. And having been there done that with a (non prior enlisted) O-3 senior member and a sergeant major on the panel, well . . . . . you get the picture.
There has been some attention to sex and labor trafficking in the military, witness the issue of prostitution.
Trafficking in Sex and Labor: Domestic and International Responses
Presented by The University of Pennsylvania Law Review
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes, Saturday, October 10, 2009
TOKYO — For better and sometimes worse, alcohol is a common battle buddy.
Troops use it to celebrate after a long deployment and to self-medicate when the euphoria fades, leaving only stress, emotions and memories.
A Robstown soldier was sentenced to 36 months in a military prison after pleading guilty to various charges that included failure to report to duty and impersonating a commissioned officer.
Pfc. James Gonzalez pled guilty at an October 2 general court martial held at Fort Hood in San Antonio for his disappearance July 11 that the soldier’s family initially claimed was the result of a kidnapping.
The soldier’s brother, Jose Cruz Gonzalez, told authorities that a ransom call was made to his mother’s home demanding $100,000 cash and the removal of all U.S. troops from the U.S./Mexico border.
That’s the headline in the Capital Flyer, Andrews AFB.
In September 2009, a Joint Team Andrews Air Force staff sergeant pled guilty to the wrongful use of marijuana in violation of Article 112a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Her wrongful use was initially detected during a random urinalysis inspection. A military judge sentenced the staff sergeant to 75 days confinement, reduction to E-1, and a bad conduct discharge.
Since 1 October 2009, NMCCA has issued four new opinions. Here is United States v. Holmes, __ M.J. ___ NMCCA 200800501 (N-M Ct. Crim. App. 8 October 2009)( a Judge Meeks case of Wuterich fame). The other cases are sentence appropriateness and the usual administrativa.
The appellant’s sole assignment of error is that the military judge erred by failing to instruct the members that self-defense was a defense to negligent homicide. . .
We conclude the military judge erred to the material prejudice of appellant’s substantial rights. . .
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
