CAAFlog

President Trump entered office in January of this year with 103 federal judicial vacancies to fill. As of the writing of this article, there are now 143 vacancies, with 48 nominees pending before the Senate. An article published a couple of days ago in Foreign Policy by two faculty members of the United States Military … More Scholarship Saturday: A solution for a hundred federal bench vacancies

In an unpublished per curiam decision in United States v. Conway, No. 20120708 (A. Ct. Crim. App. Nov. 21, 2014) (link to slip op.), a three judge panel of the Army CCA affirms the appellant’s pleas of guilty to larceny from a bank premised on his unauthorized use of another soldier’s debit card. In doing so, the CCA … More A new larceny decision from the Army CCA

In a recently published opinion, United States v. Hoffmann, No. 201400067 (11 Dec 2014), the NMCCA held that allegations of child enticement offenses coupled with a law enforcement officer’s training and experience could establish probable cause for a search authorization of a suspect’s computer for child pornography. The appellant was convicted, contrary to his pleas, of … More NMCCA Publishes Opinion On Searches for Child Pornography in Child Sex Abuse Cases

In this post from September, I analyzed the unpublished en banc opinion in United States v. Soto, No. 38422 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. Sep. 16, 2014), that reversed a conviction for forcible rape in violation of Article 120(a) (2006) on the basis that the Government failed to satisfy its burden to demonstrate that the appellant used physical … More The Air Force certifies Soto

Happy 2015 to all our CAAFlog readers out there! Like our number five story, the number four story on our list is also related to stories that made the top ten in previous years. In 2012, the “Heritage Brief” was part of the number one story and a PME for summer intern law students by a … More Top Ten Military Justice Stories of 2014 – #4: Conclusions to the CMC UCI and the Parris Island PME

Of the six service members on the military’s death row (Gray, Loving, Akbar, Witt, Hennis, and Hasan), Senior Airman Andrew Witt has the fourth oldest sentence. In 2005 a general court-martial composed of twelve officer members convicted Witt of the premeditated murder of a fellow Airman and his wife, and of the attempted murder of another Airman, and … More Top Ten Military Justice Stories of 2014 – #7: The Air Force CCA reinstates Senior Airman Witt’s death sentence

CAAF will hear oral argument in the Army case of United States v. Adams, 14-0495/AR (CAAFlog case page), on Wednesday, January 14, 2015. The court will review the application of the corroboration rule, with the following issue: Whether the Army Court of Criminal Appeals erred in finding that the military judge did not abuse his discretion in admitting … More Argument Preview: United States v. Adams, 14-0495/AR

CAAF decided the Marine Corps case of United States v. Gilbreath, 74 M.J. 11, No. 14-0322/MC (CAAFlog case page) (link to slip op.), on Thursday, December 18, 2014. The court finds that the protections of Article 31(b) apply to members of the Individual Ready Reserve and that a rights warning was required under the facts of this case, reversing … More Opinion Analysis: United States v. Gilbreath, No. 14-0322/MC

Our #2 story is really a continuation of our #1 story last year, and the media and congressional obsession with military sexual assault cases.  This year we saw continued attempts at tinkering with the military justice system to address issues, both perceived and real, with sexual assault in the military.  See here (debate on earlier Sen. McCaskill … More Top Ten Military Justice Stories of 2014 – #2: High Profile Sexual Assault Cases