Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice allows commanders to impose punishments for minor offenses without sending the matter to a court-martial. It is intended to allow commanders to deal with lower-level disciplinary matters quickly and then move forward with the mission. The servicemember can decide whether to appear before the commander personally … Read more
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) recently decided the case of United States v. Brown. Chief Brown was one of 11 chief petty officers assigned to a Coast Guard cutter. While the ship was in dry dock, the group used a group text chat to communicate regarding ship’s business. On three occasions, … Read more
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces recently granted a petition for review in the Army case of United States v. Mendoza. SSG Mendoza was stationed in Korea with a female Specialist. The Specialist had been off post for dinner and drinks and then returned and joined a group that included SSG Mendoza at … Read more
A judge in the Court of Federal Claims recently issued a decision in the case of Guardado v. United States. Guardado had been a Master Sergeant in the Army when he was convicted of several offenses at court-martial in 2014. He was sentenced to eight years confinement, total forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and … Read more
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces recently decided the case of United States v. Harrington. Airman First Class Harrington was tried and convicted of involuntary manslaughter, communicating a threat, and the unlawful use of cocaine and marijuana. The drug and threat specifications resulted from a separate incident from the involuntary manslaughter offense. The … Read more
On January 1, 2021, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 took effect. One of the provisions of that law significantly improves servicemembers’ chances of getting their names removed from the federal DCII and NCIC background check databases. The new law allows a servicemember who was investigated by military law enforcement agencies to … Read more
Unlawful command influence has been called the “mortal enemy” of military justice. Article 37(a)(3) of the UCMJ prohibits any person subject to the UCMJ from attempting to coerce or, by any unauthorized means, attempting to influence the action of a court-martial. Some common examples are when a command prevents other servicemembers from testifying on behalf … Read more
Prosecutors sometimes create specifications that cover multiple instances of the same alleged criminal behavior. For example, in a domestic violence case where the servicemember is accused of assaulting his spouse on several occasions over a period of time, this can be charged as one specification of assault occurring “on divers occasions” over that period. This … Read more
District Court Judge decides important case regarding the ability to attack a court-martial conviction in civilian courts. Read more: https://courtmartial.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Bergdahl-Decision.pdf For a consultation on your case, contact us at bill@courtmartial.com.
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces recently decided the case of United States v. Cunningham. Senior Airman Cunningham was convicted of murdering his infant son. He was sentenced to eighteen years confinement, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction to E-1, and a dishonorable discharge. During the sentencing proceedings, the baby’s mother and … Read more