A blog about military law, justice and related matters
Here is a McClatchy Newspapers article which takes an in-depth look at the problems with the “new” Article 120 which consolidated many of the sexual assault offenses under the UCMJ in 2007. The article gives a good overview of some of the problems created by changes to the statute including perspectives from practitioners and military judges.
Three Marines based in Hawaii have been charged in connection with the suicide of a fellow Marine in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on April 3. The Marines have been charged with assault, hazing and related offenses. The government is alleging that Lance Corporal Harry Lew was beaten and hazed by fellow Marines just prior to his suicide. An Article 32 investigation is scheduled for September 8. More details can be found here and here.
The application of the death penalty in the military comes under scrutiny in two articles in the Kansas City Star today. In the first article, a new study is discussed which purports to have discovered a racial bias in the application of the death penalty in the military. The second article addresses competency of defense counsel in defending capital cases, particularly in the sentencing phase, where the effectiveness of the presentation can literally mean the difference between life and death for the accused. It notes a rather staggering statistic regarding appellate reversals: ten of the sixteen men who have been sentenced to death by the military since 1984 have been resentenced to life in prison.
The charges against Army Psychiatrist MAJ Nidal Hasan related to the shootings at Fort Hood that killed 13 and wounded 30 were referred to a general court-martial, according to Politico and numerous other news outlets. LTG Donald M. Campbell, the General Court-Martial Convening Authority (GCMCA) referred the case on July 6, and determined that the court-martial could consider death as an authorized punishment. The Politico story is here. The press release from Fort Hood is here.
