Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
Here is a post from Legal Blogwatch:
Here is a scenario that sounds like a law school exam question.
It was after midnight when the client began to leave a series of
Have Briefcase (and
Internet), Will TravelFor a Free Consultation
Journalist privilege.
I'll use the posting of JURIST to indicate that:
The US House Judiciary Committee [official website] on Wednesday approved a bill HR 951 that would limit the government's ability to compel
reporters to disclose confidential sources. Under the terms of the Free
Are military breath tests reliable?
According to the MJ ruling in a case I just completed in Korea, the Intoxilyzer SD2 is reliable if administered in accordance with its instruction manual and the applicable AR. However, at Camp Casey, Korea, they are not admissible. That is because the MP's do not conduct proper calibrations in accordance with the test instructions and AR on how Army breath tests are to be conducted. For the military judge this failure constitutes a major departure from the regulation and not a minor failure.
Note: this is a Joint regulation applicable to all of the Services:
AR 190-5; OPNAVINST 11200.5; MCO 5110.1; AFI 31-218(I)
Are eyewitnesses accurate?
tip: to Crime & Consequences, who gives a Hat tip to Howard Bashman at How Appealing for his post reporting on an audio segment on NPR's "Day to Day"
discussing the reliability of eyewitness identification in criminal
trials. The segment, from Slate.com writer Dahlia Lithwick, dicusses
Double jeopardy and collateral estoppel
Yeager v. United States will be argued Monday at the Supreme Court.
Under the doctrine of collateral estoppel, a prior court’s decision on
an issue necessary to its judgment can preclude relitigation of that
MRI as a lie detector
There's an interesting case going on in (southern California of course) where the defense is seeking to offer.
Defense attorneys are for the first time submitting a controversial neurological lie-detection test as evidence in U.S. court.digg_url ="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/noliemri.html";
In an upcoming juvenile-sex-abuse case in San Diego, the defense is
IAC in negotiations
United States v. Pitcher, 05-3182r, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5103 (2d Cir. March 11, 2009). In this case appellant claimed IAC. He claimed on direct appeal that he wouldn't have plead not guilty, but for the overly rosy picture of his chances of success painted by his trial defense counsel. He lost. So he took a habeas petition and succeeded in having the district court vacate the findings and sentence based on IAC. Pitcher v. United States, 371 F. Supp. 2d 246
(E.D.N.Y. 2005).
I may have read too much into the case, but there is an underlying theme that defense counsel may have a duty to strong arm an 'obviously guilty' client into a pretrial agreement. There were issues raised in the collateral attack about the procedures under 28 U.S.C.S. § 2255, which aren't relevant for our story. The points for trial defense counsel are the client who lies, giving a proper assessment of the client's chances based on the facts available, and it's improper to arm-twist a client into accepting a pretrial agreement.
CLE with relevance.
Entitled as a "shameless plug" Mike Navarre is moderating a 1.5 hr CLE tomorrow. Here, shamelessly, is the whole item lifted.
Last chance to register for the on-line ABA-CLE
tomorrow on Criminal Accountability for Civilians in the Battle Space.
Lt Col Chessani.
To qoute CAAFLog:
Here's a link to NMCCA's unpublished opinion in Chessani, which it released today. Bottom line up front: the Government's appeal is denied.
Air Force cases
AFCCA has put up a number of cases on their website, here are just a few.
United States v. Taylor, ACM 37065 (March 12, 2009). A case worth reading where the MJ allowed speculative testimony about date rape drug use. Affirmed.
United States v. Russell, ACM 37210 (March 12, 2009). Part way through a contested members case the prosecution asked for and got, over defense objection, a 40 day delay to get a witness whose absence from trial was caused by the government. I'd love to see the defense try that one.