The Article 32 investigation for Sgt Frank Wuterich, USMC, is set to begin on 30AUG07 aboard Camp Pendleton. LtCol Ware will be the investigating officer. LtCol Ware was the investigating officer for LCpl Stephen B. Tatum and and LCpl Justin L. Sharratt, in both cases he recommended no charges.
Sgt Wuterich’s lawyer, Neal Puckett, a retired [...]
Read Full Post »
LtCol P.J. Ware, USMC, filed the report of his investigation into charges against LCpl Stephen B. Tatum, wherein he recommended no criminal charges. LtCol Ware characterized the shootings as tragedies, but LCpl Tatum did not violate the law.
LtCol Ware previously recommended no charges be brought against LCpl Justin L. Sharratt. LtGen [...]
Read Full Post »
The first hearing of the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review is scheduled to hold its first hearing on 24AUG07. The hearing will hear argument regarding the dismissal of charges against Omar Ahmed Khadr because of a flaw in the Combatant Status Review Tribunals for Guantanamo Bay prisoners. See [...]
Read Full Post »
Sgt Jerrod M. Glass, USMC, a Drill Instructors at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, was charged with 244 counts of abusing recruits. The accusations against Sgt Glass include striking almost every member of his platoon, a total of 60 recruits. The four officers who oversaw Sgt Glass have been relieved of their duties. [...]
Read Full Post »
The Staff Judge Advocate, SJA, - the senior legal adviser, roughly equivalent to in-house counsel for a business - for LtGen Mattis removed himself form the case of LCpl Tatum. The SJA, LtCol Bill Riggs, contacted LtCol Ware and criticized him for holding the government to too high of a standard [...]
Read Full Post »
The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals released U.S. v. Ledbetter, No. 200500009, unpublished op. (N.M.Ct.Crim.App. 14 Aug 2007). SPCM, military judge alone, guilty pleas, Arts 80, 81, 91, 95, 108, and 134. Sentence: 5 months, E-1, forfeiture of $500 pay per month for 6 months, and BCD. Appellant claimed (1) improvident [...]
Read Full Post »
The Article 32 investigation into the actions of LtCol Chessani will be reopened on 8AUG07. The purpose of the hearing is to conduct further examination of evidence submitted during the original investigation in May 2007. The prosecutors recommended, to LtGen Mattis, that two additional charges of dereliction of duty [...]
Read Full Post »
If any of you use RSS readers or depend on the internet for news related to your profession (or simply for enjoyment), you should be familiar with Netvibes. Netvibes is perhaps one of the more elegant and streamlined RSS readers out there. It’s been my intention to post a full review of the [...]
Read Full Post »
In five recent cases last week, two of which are by ex-military members , the Court of Federal Claims has dismissed the cases because “Plaintiff’s counsel has submitted filings which contain numerous errors and exhibit a fundamental misunderstanding of this Court’s jurisdiction.“ (emphasis added). The court referred the matters, along with three other cases, to the Chief [...]
Read Full Post »
Corporal Marshall L. Magincalda, USMC, was found guilty of larceny, housebreaking and conspiracy to commit the following: murder,kidnapping, larceny,obstruction of justice, false official statement and housebreaking. The members returned the verdict on 1 August 2007.
On 3 August 2007, he was sentenced to 448 days confinement and reduction in rank to Private. [...]
Read Full Post »
Sgt Lawrence G. Hutchins III.USMC, was found guilty of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, making a false official statement, and larceny. He was also acquitted of the greater charge of unpremeditated murder. Sentencing will likely continue tomorrow, 3AUG07.
Cpl Marshall L. Magincalda, USMC, was found guilty, on 1AUG07, of larceny, housebreaking and [...]
Read Full Post »
26 July 2007, Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals released U.S. v. Bossheart, No. 200602420, unpublished op. (N.M.Ct.Crim.App. 26 Jul 2007). GCM, military judge alone, guilty pleas to Arts 80 and 8 specs of 112a drug offenses. Sentence: 3 years, E-1, BCD. CAX approved but per PTA suspended all confinement in excess [...]
Read Full Post »
In the final day of the Article 32 investigation into LCpl Tatum’s role in the action in Haditha, Iraq, both the prosecution and defense gave their respective summations of the case. The defense emphasized that,
You can’t sit back in an air-conditioned room at Camp Pendleton and second-guess these men. It’s [...]
Read Full Post »
LCpl Tatum testified that he did not “know that there was women and children in that house until later . . . otherwise, I would have physically stopped everyone in that room from shooting.” This testimony came during his unsworn statement during an Article 32 investigation in his actions in [...]
Read Full Post »
The Pentagon has freshly updated and made available to the public a cartload of Military Commissions materials. Earlier this month we noted that the site hadn’t been updated for several months. That’s been remedied. On the site are:
Rules of Practice for the Court of Military Commission and Review
After a very quick perusal, [...]
Read Full Post »
