Uniform Code of Military Justice

Hire an attorney now – the new rules for the article 32

/ James Phillips / Leave a comment

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Within the last year, Congress has created a series of new rules which relate to the uniform code of military justice (UCMJ). These rules are transforming the way the defense attorneys need to defend their soldier clients at courts-martial. One of the things that has been radically changed is the discovery process. Essentially the military has enacted a victims rights act. This victims rights act has created barriers and in some cases tends to infringe on a Soldier’s constitutional rights to defend himself. Congress has set up barriers between the Soldier’s detailed defense counsel and an alleged victim. Statutorily, the defense counsel cannot directly talk to the alleged victim, unless he works through government counsel or victim advocates. There needs to be a chaperone, trial counsel, or special victims advocate alongside the alleged victim whenever the defense counsel is talking to that alleged victim. This is an unprecedented discovery barrier in what has otherwise been an open discovery system under the uniform code of military justice.

The other things being limited for defense counsel is the use of discovery and open discovery at the article 32 hearing. What was once a means of delving into the government’s full and complete case has now been likened to a “preliminary hearing”.. The problem is that in most civilian systems there is a grand jury process where a group of neutral citizens review whether or not a case should go to trial. By using the preliminary hearing system, and continuing to use the referral process with commanders, the military is destroying any controls that would be in place to protect the soldier from frivolous allegations. The Article 32 creates a paper trail that makes it look as though there is a real investigation going on, but by essentially excluding the defense counsel from active participation, the Article 32 is a one way street for prosecutors to present a case. The rubber stamp approach does not give the General Courts-Martial Convening Authority a real understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the case.

This may not matter.  May Commanders are afraid of dismissing Article 120 cases because they feel this will jeopardize their careers.  Scrutiny from Superior Commanders, DOD and Congress make it virtually impossible for a Commander to dismiss an Article 120 without real harm to their career.  The problem with this is that with the new Article 32 and lack of Command discretion, innocent Soldiers are being forced to go all the way to trial.

These new rules and discovery have placed a burden on the appointed trial defense counsel working for the Government. There seems to be an opening under the rules for civilian defense counsel to be able to act quickly and prior to preferral and referral. Civilian counsel prior to the case being officially picked up are arguably not under government authority. There is an argument that they can talk to the alleged victim.

Essentially, most posts do not detail any trial defense services counsel until after the charges have been preferred. A soldier that have the means to hire civilian defense counsel can do so at any time, even before an investigation. It appears that if a Soldier suspects for any reason that he may be charged in the future with an article 120, sexual assault type case, he needs to seriously consider hiring civilian counsel almost immediately. This would be one way to get around some of the discovery rules, and allows the defense counsel through either a private investigator or by calling any potential witnesses himself to be able to get early discovery.

The counterargument of course is that the problem of sexual assault in the military must be dealt with harshly. The victims must be protected and the perpetrators must go to jail. This doesn’t account for the uniqueness of the military justice system. Our soldiers give their lives and sacrifice everything for this country. When we begin to take away their basic freedoms and rights under the United States Constitution, the very thing that they fight for, we jeopardize all of our freedoms

How a Courts-Martial Works

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Here is a video blog that goes through both the procedural process of a Courts-Martial and also advice on how to best handle certain situation in the process.  I have also provided a PowerPoint slide that breaks down the basic process.

Click this link to download the Courts-Martial PowerPoint. Court Martial PP

 

The Growing Pressure to Prosecute Article 120 Cases

/ James Phillips / Leave a comment

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The recent US v. Sinclair verdict seems to be an anomaly.  As a Civilian Defense Counsel, I have handled an increasing number of Sexual Assault and Maltreatment cases over the past few years. The pressure from the US Congress to prosecute sexual assault cases in the US Military continues to grow and at least in the Fort Campbell Jurisdiction the pressure has grown to prosecute any and all cases.

There is a perception that the military does not prosecute sexual assault cases.  That is not what I have seen.  There are many cases where legitimate allegations of sexual assault are brought against Soldiers in the military.  The problem is that there has also developed what I call the military “sexual assault generation machine.”

The Government’s tools to prosecute sexual assault cases have grown immensely.  With the assignment of Special Victim’s Prosecutors (SVP), who are trained in specific techniques for the prosecution of sexual assault, the US Army has a focused policy of “believe the alleged victim” without question.  Once an allegation is made and charges are preferred the alleged victim is assigned her own Victim Advocate, who is all an attorney.  These Victim attorneys are then asserted in the criminal process to give the alleged victim a voice.  In addition, specially assigned JAG attorneys are appointed to conduct Article 32 hearings.  What this has created is a process by which once an allegation of sexual assault is made, the case is almost inevitably going to end in a trial.

Whether victim’s rights advocates want to hear it or not, false allegations are made.  There are plenty of men and women who are sexually assaulted and bring valid allegations against their perpetrators.  The problem is that people have any number of motivations to tell a lie.  The policy of the US Army and the military at large is to believe the victim- no matter what.  This is in direct conflict with the United States Constitution that has a fundamental and underlying premise that an accused person is innocent until proven guilty.  That presumption seems to have disappeared in the US military.

Defending against these false sexual assault allegations is both complex and time-consuming.  Defense counsel must be prepared with expert witnesses, proper discovery and relentless assault against the presumption the alleged victim must be telling the truth.  At closing argument, the SVP will almost surely be employing an argument that encompasses this presumption.

SOF Soldiers under an ever-changing legal fire

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I have recently represented several special forces soldiers in tab revocation proceedings. These soldiers were under investigation for misconduct, some real and some perceived.

In the 5th Special Forces group, the commander has a policy letter on tab revocation requirements for misconduct.  As part of the tab revocation, there is a requirement to reclass the soldier out of the 18 series MOS.  So, he loses both the Green Beret and the actual ability to operate in his field.  My response to this is two-fold, (1) I am always saddened to see such highly trained and successful soldiers lose both their MOS and their tab; and (2) I am amazed at the changing landscape of the SOF Community.

Several years ago, I wasn’t hired by many SOF Soldiers.  This has changed radically.  I have represented 18 series Soldiers in many Courts-Martial and Administrative Separation Boards recently.  In the old days, if a Green Beret committed misconduct, the misconduct was swept under the rug and not much was done to the tabbed Soldier.  This developed into an idea of the “big boy” rules, where the tabbed soldiers were expected to be professional, without a lot of supervision.  In the absence of the soldier’s professionalism, many times the command would not know what to do.

Those times have change.  There have been several embarrassing incidents, which have brought unwanted attention to the commands, are causing commanders to reevaluate the “big boy” rules.  Drinking incidents have begun to result in administrative discharges for tabbed soldiers.  Criminal conduct downtown and while deployed the same.

With so much training and expertise, these decisions to end these special careers should be examined carefully by the commands.  We can’t have soldiers who run amuck, but I sure hate to see all that courage and all those tax dollars flow down the drain.

Judge Alone for Sexual Assault UCMJ Article 120 allegations

/ James Phillips / 1 Comment

Sexual Assault allegations brought against soldiers and sailors are very hard to defend against in the military.  One of the problems is that many of these sexual assault type cases are “he said/she said” cases, where the alleged victim and the servicemember are each telling very different stories.  Many times alcohol is involved and the memories of witnesses are blurred or hazy.

The presumptive civilian and military defense tactic is to go with a military panel.  Many times enlisted soldier believe they will get a better shake with a panel than they will a military judge.

I have recently been having phenomanal success in Article 120 cases.  My recent 120 defenses have either resulted in verdicts of not guilty or low level sentences.  One reason for this success is that my clients have trusted me when I have recommended using a Judge Alone.  My experience with Article 120 cases is that they are generally very hard to prove and much of the prosecutions evidence lends itself to attack.

Reasons for going Military Judge Alone:

1.  Judges tend to be more fact based and willing to critically look at the evidence and determine whether the evidence presented by the Government proves the elements of the offense. This can be critical in close cases.

2.Defense attorneys in a 120 case need to by HYPER AGRESSIVE and attack the Government’s case.  This is done by objecting to everything.  A judge will generally not hold objections against the defense and therefore, no harm, no foul.  A military panel many times will believe the the slick defense attorney is hiding something.

3. The defense is probably going to be most effective with a hard cross exam on the very wounded victim.  A panel won’t like or put up with this if she or he is a nice person or if they are a child.

4.  Sentencing is more predictable with a judge.

5.  Motions can be used to present otherwise excluded evidence to a judge.  A panel will never see the motions.

6.  The Accused can get credit for pleading guilty to lower level offenses or lesser includeds.

Military Judge Alone can be a very effective tactic, unless for some reason or other, the defense believes that the victim is so unlikeable that they are likely to turn a panel off.  If this is not the case, think long and hard before doing a sexual assault in front of a panel.Law Blogs
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Problems for Deployed Civilian Contractors working for the Military

/ James Phillips / Leave a comment

Recently, I have had several civilian contractors hire me for actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. During their work with the military in these deployed environments they have been the subject to either investigation or suspension.  The interesting thing is that the military officers that have dealt with these contractors seem to be acting without clear guidance from higher headquarters and are very erratic in the way that they treat the civilian contractors.

The Contractors seem to be without much due process in dealing with allegations that are brought against them while being deployed.  A couple of my clients were subject to unwarranted searches and have had personal belongings seized.  Getting these items back has been extremely difficult.

In one of the cases, the FBI is doing the investigation, but has never formally arrested or charged my client.  The investigation seems to have been brought about because of a commander’s suspicions, which at the point are both unwarranted and probably negligent.

In another case, my client brought concerns up to a commander about the safety, both OPSEC concerns and personal safety concerns.  The response was to ignore the problem and send my client home. The commander seemed to believe he had complete discretion.

I would be interested to hear about other experiences like this that contractors may be having in a deployed environment.

Let LT Behenna’s Ongoing Defense Help Other Soldiers

/ James Phillips / 9 Comments

My initial blog about LT Behenna’s Court Martial was an after thought. I intended to just write a few words about what I perceived to be a fascinating trial and the serious ethical and political struggle that went along with that trial. My real concern has always been for MY client, SSG Mitch Warner. For me, Mitch is a true American hero that should not be forgotten in all of this. He was and is a dedicated soldiers and served his country well for most of his infantry career.

I have watched as the ground swell of support and dissent has grown over the last year for Lt Behenna. I see many Defend LT Behenna web site’s on Facebook, Myspace and elsewhere. I see legal forums and threads popping up all over the place. The hits on my blog have swelled to almost 2500 a month. I have been overwhelmed with the response and it is growing.

I have attempted to remain somewhat neutral on the LT Behenna case. Not because I have anything against LT Behenna, but my clients interests are best served by my neutrality.  My client is Mitch Warner and LT Behenna has numerous supporters and clearly doesn’t need me.  My hope is that this defense and pride in supporting LT Behenna will pour over to other soldiers that have not been treated with the respect they deserve.

In the next few weeks, I will start to detail the story of another client of mine that has experienced injustice in a detainee abuse case.  This happened in Afghanistan and is an amazingly ridiculous response to a proper interrogation.  This story will be broken by CNN but I am hoping that those that support LT Behenna will be willing to pour that over to other soldiers in need.

Sadly, within the same platoon that was hit with the IED allegedly planted by Ali Mansur’s people, there are soldiers that have serious PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) from that incident.  In addition, one of those soldiers, has struggled to adjust to being home.  These soldiers should not be forgotten either. LT Behenna, SSG Warner, and all the members of their platoon have been casualties of the IED attack on LT Behenna’s platoon.  The effects continue to be far reaching.

Behenna’s Sentence Reduced a Second Time

/ James Phillips / Leave a comment

LT Behenna recently received a second reduction in sentence. Last Thursday, the Army’s Parole Board apparently reduced LT Behenna’s sentence from 20 years of confinement to 15 years of confinement. This is the second reduction that LT Behenna has received. The Convening Authority of the 101st Airborne Division had previously reduced his sentence from 25 to 20 years. This reduction in sentence is unrelated to the ongoing appeal.

LT Behenna’s ongoing defense.

/ James Phillips / 12 Comments

I was on facebook yesterday and strangely enough got a request to be part of a group to defend LT Behenna.  One of my friends sent me the link and I thought it was ironic that he did not know that I represented SSG Warner and had watched the trial of LT Behenna.  I believe part of the request was to sign a petition in order to have LT Behenna pardoned.  With this current administration and their take on the war in Iraq,  I believe that is highly unlikely, but it would be a viable way to mitigate the very heavy sentence in this case.

LT Behenna and SSG Warner were both part of a very tragic story.  Several weeks before the killing of Ali Mansur took place, LT Behenna’s squad had captured Ali Mansur at his home.  They had credible information to believe he was part of Al Qaeda and that he was a terrorist that had been involved in the death of several of LT Behenna’s squad members.  The members of LT Behenna’s squad, along with SSG Warner, showed restrained at that time.  If they had wanted to, they could have easily made up a plausible story that Ali Mansur resisted his capture.  There were illegal weapons at Ali Mansur’s home and it would have been a simple matter to kill him during the armed take down of that home.  But, that is not what happened.

LT Behenna and the members of his squad decided that they would let the “authorities” investigate Ali Mansur.  They dropped him off at a detention facility with all of the information that they knew about his terrorist activities and hoped that justice would prevail.  Instead, within a matter of weeks, LT Behenna and his squad were asked to return Ali Mansur to his home and his village.  Military Intelligence determined that they didn’t have enough to hold Ali Mansur despite the RPGs, weaponry and illegal passports from Iran that were found at his home.  Clearly, Ali Mansur was involved in nefarious activities and LT Behenna believed he had credible evidence to prove that.

LT Behenna’s frustration at the release of Ali Mansur back to his family was understandable.  After witnessing the death of the men in his squad, in what he believed was directly related to the activities of Ali Mansur, was surely a motivating factor in driving Ali Mansur to the desert and stripping him naked.

These events are very much a picture of what is occurring in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  We ask our soldiers to toe the line, and to deal with whatever decision comes from higher, even if they don’t understand the wherefore’s and the why’s.  For many, the resulting death of Ali Mansur, is no tragedy.  For them, the resulting incarceration of LT Behenna for avenging his men, is the true tragedy.

As a former JAG, I understand the need for the laws of war.  I just don’t believe ultimately that the decisions that are made on the battlefield are so easily codified and analyzed as to fit in the Geneva Conventions.  If SSG Warner and LT Behenna had deliberately decided to kill Ali Mansur when they picked him on that first day, would that have gotten LT Behenna 25 years of jail?  Probably not.

Summary Courts- Martial Relook

/ James Phillips / 2 Comments

If you want self help military legal to guide you through a summary courts-martial, go to invisblelawyer.com.

I (www.jamesphillipslaw.com) recently represented a client at Fort Campbell in a Summary Court Martial and upon reflection have decided to follow up on an earlier post about Summary Courts-Martial (https://jaglaw.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/summary-court-martial-a-fair-process/).  The reason for this is that there was a suggestion in my prior post that Summary Courts-Martial are somehow inherently unfair.  That was not what I intended to convey.  I was attempting to portray the feel of a summary courts-martial to the servicemember and also the inherent problem with using summary court officers who are wholly unaware of the legal aspects of the UCMJ and the Rules in the Manual for Courts-Martial (MCM).

Last week, I represented a soldier at Fort Campbell on several drug charges.  In that case there were issues that had to be heard through a Motion to Suppress.  The case in some ways hinged on whether or not Article 31 rights had been given to the soldier and whether or not his statement and all derivative evidence should be suppressed (fruit of the poison tree doctrine).  The Summary Court Officer began the proceeding with an eye towards conviction, but as the Summary Court proceeded he became very thought and began to examine the legality and competency of the evidence.  In his verdict, he took into account the Article 31 rights issue and weighted it against the competent evidence that had been presented.  Some of this thoughtful analysis was brought about by the long discussions and period of education that took place between myself, as the only attorney in the room, the Summary Court Officer and the paralegal assigned to record the record of trial.  In the end, using his own initiative, the Summary Court Officer was able to properly navigate the proceeding and come up with both findings and sentence that were legally justified and consistent with a judgement that would have been found in a higher level Courts-Martial in front of a judge or panel.

Much of this was obviously driven by the personality and training of the Summary Court Officer.  In essence, he was a GOOD one.  That ultimately is the problem with Summary Court Martials.   Judges have been trained to provide consistency in the Court Martial.  They know the rules of evidence.  Hopefully, they are up on their case law.  Most of the military and civilian attorneys that practice before a Judge have an idea of how he rules.  All of these things provide defense attorneys and their clients a basis for good advice and sound decision-making.  This is much harder when you are operating in the realm of the Summary Courts-Martial.

In my Motion to Suppress at the Summary Court Martial last week, although the Motion was a valid legal argument, I did not know how the Summary Court Officer would view the Motion.  Was this defense trickery?  Was this a non-issue because he didn’t care?  Was he already convinced the accused was guilty?  It was hard for me to advise the client on whether or not he should object to the SCM because I didn’t know whether or not there would be an honest and fair assessment of our case by the SCM Officer.  We were lucky that this SCM Officer was very thoughtful and serious about the process.

Some of the arbitrariness of the Summary Court Process could be taken away by giving the SCM Officer more training in this area.  Maybe picking them for a term of duty or sending them through a class on legal justice.  Either way, if some of the arbitrariness is taken away, an SCM can be the best way for a servicemember to go.