Articles Tagged with cave * freeburg

United States v. Guinsler — Case Summary, prepared by Phil Cave of Cave & Freeburg, LLP

What the Court Decided in Guinsler

In January 2026, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia indicted Army soldier James Isaac Guinsler on four counts of coercion and enticement of a child and one count of possession of child pornography. The case began when Snapchat’s automated system flagged two images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) that Guinsler shared on April 29, 2024. The York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office traced the Snapchat account to Guinsler through T-Mobile records, then obtained warrants for his Snapchat and iCloud accounts — both limited to a two-month window (April–May 2024). Those searches uncovered sexually explicit conversations with multiple females who identified themselves as minors.

The Army Court of Criminal Appeals has issued an important decision in

United States v. Brassfield, __ M.J. ___ (Army Ct. Crim. App. 2024) (en banc)

The court reaffirms that a servicemember accused of assault against their child may raise the defense of “it was parental discipline.” The definition of what is or isn’t criminal corporal punishment has changed over the years. The Court of Military Appeals (CMA) (predecessor to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF)), said so in United States v. Brown, 26 M.J. 148 (1988). The CMA adopted a two-part test from the Model Penal Code.

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