Air Force Court of Criminal AppealsUnited States v. Witt. This was a sentence rehearing in once a DP case, with "An Army military judge due to the fact the Chief Trial Judge of the Air Force had been detailed as trial counsel at Appellant’s initial court-martial." Findings: Seventeen years ago, in the early morning hours of 5 July 2004, Appellant murdered Senior Airman (SrA) AS and SrA AS’s wife, Ms. JS, with a knife. Appellant attempted to murder another Airman, SrA JK, who survived despite suffering grievous wounds inflicted at Appellant’s hands. Later that day, Appellant was apprehended by military law enforcement, and he subsequently confessed to the offenses. Appellant was charged with two specifications of premeditated murder and one specification of attempted premeditated murder, in violation of Articles 118 and 80, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. §§ 918, 880.2 These specifications were referred as capital to a general court-martial, and just over a year after his attack, Appellant was found guilty of all three offenses and sentenced to death. Sentence: LWOP, DD, TF, RIR, and a reprimand. Issues: Members, Prosecutorial misconduct during voir dire, abuse of discretion as to some evidence, TC XE of a witness lacking a good faith basis. Abuse of discretion in allowing TC demonstrative slide. Risk assessments. TC errors during sentencing argument. His approach to the argument was to repeatedly ask the members what they “stand for” and where they would “draw the line.” Finding no prejudicial error, the sentence on rehearing was affirmed. United States v. Gardner. NG case MJA (Milam)(Jimenenz). Findings: 1x sexual abuse of a child. Sentence: Two years, DD, RIR, reprimand. Issues:
United States v. Webb. Appellant pled NG, MJA. Findings: 4x willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer, 2x damaging non-military property, 2x A&B, 1x aggravated assault by strangulation. Sentence: 335 days, BCD, RIR, reprimand. Issues:
United States v. Finco. Back after remand to correct post-trial errors. Findings: Sentence: Five-months, BCD, RIR, reprimand. Issues: Sentence comparison and a Willman/Jessie issue. Decision: Findings and sentence affirmed. United States v. Scott. A NG w/members. A second appearance after a sentence rehearing. Findings: Originally convicted of 3x A&B and fraternization. AFCCA, At Appellant’s trial in June 2017, a general court-martial composed of officer members convicted Appellant, contrary to his pleas, of three specifications of assault consummated by a battery and one specification of fraternization in violation of Articles 128 and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. §§ 928, 934, respectively. Sentence: two-months, Dismissal, reprimand. The confinement was eight-months first time around. Issues: Quite a few. Decision: Findings and sentence affirmed. Result: a Pyrrhic victory. Army Court of Criminal AppealsUnited States v. Thompson. A case with a long history. Findings: 1x rape, 1x sexual assault, 1x A&B on child. Sentence: 20-years, Dismissal, TF. fn. 2. This case has a long history. When originally tried, an officer panel convicted appellant of one specification of disobeying a superior commissioned officer, seven specifications of rape, one specification of assault consummated by a battery, and six specifications of conduct unbecoming an officer. The panel sentenced appellant to confinement for sixteen years. On our first review of the case, we affirmed the findings and sentence. United States • Thompson, ARMY 20140974, 2017 CCA LEXIS 7 (6 Jan, 2017). On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces set aside appellant's convictions for rape and the sentence, affirmed the remaining findings of guilty, and remanded the case to this court for a new review of the findings for Specifications 6 and 7 of Charge I (alleging rape) in light of United States v. Guardado, 77 M.J. 90 (C.A.A.F. 2017). United States • Thompson, 2018 CAAF LEXIS 61 (C.A.A.F. 10 Jan. 2018) (summ. disp.). On remand, we set aside appellant's convictions for rape as contained in Charge I, set aside and dismissed Specifications 1 - 5 of the Charge, set aside Specifications 6 and 7 of the Charge, and set aside the sentence. We authorized a rehearing on Specification 6 and 7 of Charge I and the sentence. United States v. Thompson, ARMY 20140974, 2018 CCA LEXIS 91 (26 Feb, 2018). Issues: Factual sufficiency. Part of the issue is the Parental Discipline Defense. Decision: Findings and sentence affirmed. United States v. Strickland. Findings: (GP) 1x false official, one rape, 6x sexual abuse of a child, 2x rape of a child. (Enl. Panel contested) 1x sexual assault, 2x A&B. Sentence: 38-years, DD, RIR. Issues: The court writes only on some post-trial errors, "noting the poor attention to detail" and the adverse effect on "the United States Army and the military justice system." Decision after reconsideration--findings and sentence affirmed. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal AppealsUnited States v. Allison. Appellant pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to eight-months, a BCD, RIR, and forfeitures. The case was on its third review having been sent back twice to correct post-trial errors. The court set-aside the forfeitures to remedy post-trial delay. A potentially useful case for post-trial delay when there is a remand to correct post-trial errors. Possible appellate casesUnited States v. SA RSM. A hearing to help determine whether a junior sailor will go to court-martial for allegedly setting fire to the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, scheduled for this week, has been pushed back to December, Navy officials confirmed Monday. @Navy Times. Worth the ReadNational Guard members on state duty should be able to unionize for better working conditions, a group of labor unions argued in a federal lawsuit filed on Monday, asking a district court to affirm Guard members’ organizing rights. @ Courthouse News Service
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