Imagine you have attended a barracks party, you drank underage and you ended up having what you believed to be consensual sex with a female. The next day, you report to your supervisor as ordered and he begins drilling you with questions about what happened at the party and what you did. You have to … Read more
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Next Monday, in U.S. v. Elespuru, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) will hear an argument about whether two of an Airman’s charges for which he was found guilty in his court-martial are multiplicious. The two charges are “abusive sexual contact” and “wrongful sexual contact” under the 2006 version of Article 120. … Read more
In my opinion, yes. First, a court-martial panel is not a panel of randomly selected military members. The commander, the same commander that sends an accused to a court-martial, hand selects the panel members. This can seem a little unfair to the servicemember being tried at the court-martial. Second, a court-martial panel can convict a … Read more
Senator Claire McCaskill and Senator Kelly Ayotte are working hard on their military sexual assault amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). A recent USA Today article states that in addition to stripping commanders of their ability to overturn convictions, assigning independent attorneys to alleged victims and other similar amendments, these amendments may also … Read more
On 19 November 2013, the Army Court of Criminal Appeals (ACCA) in U.S. v. Trank ruled that a military judge erred in not allowing an alleged sexual assault victim’s Article 32 testimony in as evidence in the court-martial when she refused to testify at the court-martial. This case involved a child accuser, but this does … Read more
Back in March 2013, I blogged about a case that was up for appeal because a trial counsel in a court-martial did some overblown ranting during his closing argument. (U.S. v. Soloman) Well, recently the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) has decided to review a similar case, U.S. v. Frey, involving a … Read more
If you have been ordered to an Article 32 investigation and are facing sexual offense charges, then you will be facing an experienced Judge Advocate when you go to your Article 32 hearing. In August 2013, the Secretary of Defense mandated that the services begin using Judge Advocates as the Article 32 investigating officers in … Read more
It is no secret that some of the crimes that servicemembers have been punished for under the UCMJ involve private consensual sexual activity. For example, adultery is typically a consensual sexual activity, but is also a crime under the UCMJ. Sodomy (which is a charge that is typically used to charge oral sex) is also … Read more
If you are alleged to have committed a crime and are being read your rights, I urge you to remain silent and ask to speak with an attorney. I have and always will recommend that course of action. However, sometimes servicemembers do not take that advice and they choose to speak to investigators or their … Read more
This past week the Army Judge Advocate General announced the development of the new United States Army Special Victim Advocate Program (SVAP). This program created at the direction of the Secretary of Defense exists to provide legal advice and representation to victims of sexual assault throughout the military justice process. This program is modeled after … Read more