This is a blog focusing on Court Martial Appeals Issues.
From 1951 until 2013, Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice criminalized consensual sodomy between adults. The military pursued incidents of consensual same-sex sexual activity under this provision for decades. In 2003, the US Supreme Court issued an opinion in Lawrence v. Texas that struck down statutes criminalizing consensual sodomy between adults. The … Read more
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces recently released its opinion in the case of United States v. Cole. Airman First Class Cole pled guilty to committing three different assault offenses against a fellow airman. He pled guilty to assault via strangulation on multiple occasions, to simple assault with an unloaded firearm, and to … Read more
In March 2024, the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals decided the case of United States v. Colletti. The Court set aside the guilty plea to wire fraud in a case where the accused had used images of women to encourage other women he met online to send him intimate photos of themselves. The Navy-Marine … Read more
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces recently issued a decision in United States v. Keago. Midshipman Keago was charged with attempted sexual assault, sexual assault, burglary, and obstruction of justice related to the alleged sexual assaults of three other midshipmen from the US Naval Academy. He was found guilty of these offenses and … Read more
The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals recently decided the case of United States v. Colletti. SSgt Colletti executed a scheme to get women to send him nude pictures of themselves. His plan consisted of posing as “Jenicae” and her girlfriend “Nicki.” Operating as these two personas, SSgt Colletti was able to get two different … Read more
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) recently decided the case of United States v. Palik. TSgt Palik was court-martialed over several charges involving domestic assault of his girlfriend, a fellow Airman. He was convicted of two specifications of assault consummated by a battery and one specification of domestic violence by strangulation. He … Read more
In 2009, Army Major Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, walked into a Soldier Readiness Processing Center on Fort Hood, Texas and opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun equipped with laser sights. He killed thirteen people and wounded thirty-one others. The attack ended when he was shot by responding law enforcement. As a result of his … Read more
In February 2020, SSgt Flanner, USMC, was deployed to Kuwait as a contracting officer. He submitted four purchase vouchers for more than $30,000 for payment during that month. The Government claimed that they were fraudulent and NCIS opened an investigation into SSgt Flanner in May 2020. In May 2021, NCIS brought SSgt Flanner in for … Read more
The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals recently decided the case of United States v. Salinas. Petty Officer Second Class Salinas was convicted of attempted sexual assault and assault with intent to commit sexual assault. The two offenses were charged in the alternative, so PO2 Salinas was only sentenced on the attempted sexual assault offense. … Read more
The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals recently decided the case of United States v. Harborth. Chief Harborth and his wife were having an argument over her suspicion that he was having an affair. The Chief’s wife asked to see his cell phone and he began to delete pictures from the phone. The Chief’s stepdaughter … Read more