Court-Martial Trial Practice BlogOver the last several years, I have noticed quite a few cases on appeal challenging improper arguments made by the prosecutor. Here is a short burst on a recent approach I have taken. Standard of review Prosecutorial error in making an improper argument is a legal question reviewed de novo. If there is no […]
Search Results for: eye witness
Is there racial disparity in disciplinary actions within the Armed Services
Black sailors more likely than white sailors to be referred to court-martial, report says Brock Vergakis, The Virginian-Pilot, 7 June 2017. The VP summarizes: Black sailors were 40 percent more likely than white sailors to be referred to a court-martial over a two-year period examined by an advocacy group that focuses on military justice. . […]
DoD 2016 Military Investigation and Justice Experience Survey
Good friend Gene Fidell has drawn attention to a news release about the new report. In particular he notes that 23% of those surveyed last year would not recommend making a report. The 2015 survey report is Enclosure 3. Interestingly, last year nearly a number of respondents were dissatisfied with the various services available to a complaining […]
Its a question of reliability
· Police can tell when a suspect is lying · People confess only when they have actually committed the crime they are being charged with · Most judges and jurors fully understand court instructions · Eye-witnesses are always the most reliable source of case-related information · Most mentally ill individuals are violent · All psychopaths […]
Prosecution misconduct
We often hear of prosecution misconduct going unchallenged or undisciplined. Two events this week are noteworthy though in efforts to hold prosecutors accountable. Armstrong v. Daily, et. al., is a case out of the Seventh. The M-W Journal Sentinal extracts this: He brought a civil rights suit against the prosecutor on his case, John Norsetter, […]
Recovered memory-or-making it up?
The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals recently, in United States v. D.W.B., __ M.J. ___ (N-M Ct. Crim. App. 2015), had to decide “a complex and controversial topic: the admissibility of a witness’s testimony regarding memories recovered through a psychotherapeutic approach known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).” Slip op. at 2. BLUF: […]
That’s him!
Your weekend reading program. Many, many, many years ago, as a police officer I had attempted to arrest a suspect who successfully got away. Some days later, I saw a CID officer bringing in a person to the station – and I said, “that’s him.” It wasn’t, I was wrong. My first general court-martial in 1980 […]
Biased brains
Several items came across the transom today related to my constant meme about the dangers of bias and confirmation bias in investigations and by “forensic” scientists. First item is a blog at Criminal Law Practitioner, which notes a significant and important change in how photographic line-ups are conducted in Prince Georges County, MD. This is […]
I could have sworn*
False memories are a problem, especially in criminal trials. False memories can be created intentionally or through poor interview techniques (which I consider sort-of-intentional), and unintentionally because that is how the human brain can work. To quote Prof. Loftus: We all have memories that are malleable and susceptible to being contaminated or supplemented in some […]
Of course they are nervous
Prosecutors ask CID, NCIS, OSI, CGIS agents all the time why they didn’t believe the accused in the interrogation. The answer often is a variant of, “he was nervous.” Yeah, right. First they are told and usually escorted to the LE office. The escort won’t tell them why or what’s going on. They then have […]