JAG CENTRAL

O.k., so the issue in Oliver v. State, No. 1887-04-01 (Va. Ct. App. Oct. 18, 2005) wasn't as simple as the title of this post makes it out to be - but it was pretty close. "Oliver objected to this evidence [of his court-martial prior conviction], arguing that the criminal convictions were not convictions 'under the laws of . . . the United States' for purposes of Code § 19.2-295.1." (Id., slip. op. at 1). The court cites a list of cases in footnote 1, which is more than I could muster... I would probably say "But this is dumb. See 10 United States Code § 801-946."

The defense attorney had something interesting to say - suggesting that procedural protections under the UCMJ might violate the Constitution - but (1) that is a high hill to climb given Supreme Court and CAAF precedent, and (2) he didn't bother challenging Oliver's convictions. Thanks to Ken Lammers / CrimLaw for the link.

By the way: CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CENTRIST. I am insanely jealous.

From www.calbar.org:

July 2005 California Bar Examination
Application Number: ***
Registration Number: *********
Name: Centrist
The name above appears on the pass list for the July 2005 California Bar Examination.

From the NY Times, Issuing Contracts, Ex-Convict Took Bribes in Iraq, U.S. Says:

A North Carolina man who was charged yesterday with accepting kickbacks and bribes as a comptroller and financial officer for the American occupation authority in Iraq was hired despite having served prison time for felony fraud in the 1990's.

The job gave the man, Robert J. Stein, control over $82 million in cash earmarked for Iraqi rebuilding projects.

Along with a web of other conspirators who have not yet been named, Mr. Stein and his wife received "bribes, kickbacks and gratuities amounting to at least $200,000 per month" to steer lucrative construction contracts to companies run by another American, Philip H. Bloom, an affidavit outlining the criminal complaint says. Mr. Stein's wife, who was not named, has not been charged with wrongdoing in the case; Mr. Bloom was charged with a range of crimes on Wednesday.

Also from the Times, Torture Charges Deepen Rift Between U.S. and Iraqi Leader:

At a news conference, the Iraqi interior minister, Bayan Jabr, a conservative Shiite, accused the government's political opponents of bolstering the insurgency by exploiting the American military's discovery of torture at a secret police prison in the capital. Virtually all of the prisoners were Sunni Arabs, and Sunni groups have exploded in fury, saying that the discovery confirms their long-held suspicions that the Shiite-led government has been abducting and torturing or killing Sunnis.

But Mr. Jabr, speaking of the prison in an angry, sarcastic tone, said, "There has been much exaggeration about this issue." He added, "Nobody was beheaded or killed."

Later in the afternoon, the American Embassy issued its statement, saying that "detainee abuse is not and will not be tolerated." In addition, "We have made clear to the Iraqi government that there must not be militia or sectarian control or direction of Iraqi security forces, facilities or ministries."

Finally from the Times, 2 U.S. Soldiers Face Court-Martial For Alleged Abuse ("Two American soldiers will be court-martialed in Afghanistan on charges of beating two Afghan detainees at a base in Uruzgan Province in July, military officials said. The charges against the two, Sgt. Kevin D. Myricks and Specialist James R. Hayes, include conspiracy to maltreat, assault and dereliction of duty, the officials said. It would be the first court-martial of Americans to take place in Afghanistan. No date has been set.").

From the Washington Post, U.S. Accuses Pair of Rigging Iraq Contracts, and U.S. to Probe All Iraqi-Run Prisons:

The United States on Thursday expanded its probe of alleged prison abuses to include all Iraqi-run detention sites, saying the Shiite-led government had agreed to the move after U.S. forces uncovered a secret Interior Ministry chamber in Baghdad where Sunni Arabs allegedly were tortured and starved.

Early Friday, two large bombs exploded just outside that Interior Ministry facility, knocking down concrete barriers, collapsing nearby buildings and leaving a huge crater in the street. Rescue workers, surrounded by burning vehicles and bloodied people, were climbing over the wreckage in search of trapped victims and pulling women and children from the debris. There was no immediate word about casualties.

Law enforcement officials from the FBI, Justice Department, U.S. Embassy and U.S.-led military forces will aid an Iraqi-appointed citizens group in the prison investigation, slated to cover all of at least 1,100 sites across the country where Iraqi security forces and justice officials are holding detainees.

The breadth of the crackdown -- and involvement by top U.S. officials including Army Gen. George Casey, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and others -- indicated the gravity with which American leaders here viewed the torture allegations and the scandal's possible impact on the already marginalized Sunni community, whose support is vital to ending the insurgency.

Also from the Post, Detainee's Conditions Upheld:

Government lawyers contend that Jumah Dossari, a suicidal detainee held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been receiving appropriate mental health care and has "adequate" amounts of human interaction, exercise and intellectual stimulation, according to papers filed in federal court this week.

The lawyers and officials at the U.S. military prison said that Dossari is not in isolation or solitary confinement, though he is held in a cell with solid walls and can communicate verbally with other detainees only through the narrow food tray slot in his door when it is left open. They also said that Dossari has established "a cordial relationship with members of his interrogation team" and has eaten pizza, watched movies and played checkers with them during 29 interrogation sessions over the past two years.

Dossari, 32, a Bahraini national, is under close medical supervision at the U.S. Naval Hospital at the Guantanamo Bay base after a suicide attempt. He tried to hang himself with a makeshift noose and slashed his right arm in a bathroom during a visit from his attorney on Oct. 15.

Dossari tried to kill himself again on Monday by ripping the stitches out of his arm wound, according to an affidavit filed Wednesday by Capt. John S. Edmondson, the hospital's commander.

From the NY Times, American Faces Charge of Graft for Work in Iraq:

The man, Philip H. Bloom, who controlled three companies that did work in Iraq in the multibillion-dollar reconstruction effort, was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, conspiracy to launder money and interstate transportation of stolen property, all in connection with obtaining up to $3.5 million in reportedly fraudulent contracts.

The complaint, unsealed in the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia, also cites two unnamed co-conspirators who worked in the Coalition Provisional Authority, the American administration that governed Iraq when the contracts were awarded in early 2004. These were the officials who, with their spouses, allegedly received the payments.

"This is the first case, but it won't be the last," said Jim Mitchell, a spokesman for the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an independent office. Mr. Mitchell said as many as a dozen related cases had been referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

Also from the Times, Iraqi Rift Grows After Discovery of Prison:

The discovery of the prison by the American military in a raid on Sunday has galvanized Sunni Arab anger and widened the country's sectarian divide just a month before elections for a full, four-year government.

The American general responsible for securing Baghdad said Wednesday that Sunni Arab leaders were supportive of the operation, which ended Wednesday afternoon. The commander, Maj. Gen. William G. Webster Jr. of the Third Infantry Division, said that American officers would help scrutinize the evidence seized from the prison, and that his troops were prepared to investigate other complaints of secret detentions by Iraqi security forces.

The American raid forced the prime minister of Iraq, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who is a Shiite, to announce Tuesday that the government would investigate accusations of torture at the detention center, where many of the 173 prisoners were found in weakened, malnourished states. A former prisoner said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that he and other inmates, mostly Sunni Arabs, were regularly beaten and subjected to electric shocks. He was blindfolded for the entire duration of his stay, more than three months.

The Interior Ministry acknowledged on Tuesday that "instruments of torture" had been found and that torture had occurred.

Related to that story in the Times, Sunnis Tell of Abuses in Iraqi-Run Detention Sites. And, following up on the willie-pete news from yesterday, Pentagon Justifying Incendiary Arms Use:

Army Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, acknowledged that the United States military had used the weapons, but only against insurgents, he said. He denied that the flammable weapons had been used against civilians. An Italian state television report this month said such munitions had been used against men, women and children in Falluja who were burned to the bone.

"We categorically deny that claim," he said. White phosphorus weapons are not outlawed or banned by any convention, he said.

A protocol to an accord on conventional arms, which took effect in 1983, forbids using incendiary weapons against civilians. It also forbids their use against military targets in concentrations of civilians, except when the targets are clearly separated from civilians and "all feasible precautions" are taken to avoid civilian casualties.

The United States is a party to the overall accord, but has not ratified the incendiary arms protocol.

Again, as I said yesterday in this post, even if WP rounds are not specifically prohibited by convention, their use in certain circumstances is likely illegal anyways because the use of them is not necessary or proportional. If they were being used within close proximity of civilians, this may very well be the case.

Finally from the Times, Curbs on Insurance for Military are Urged:

In a report to be released today, the Government Accountability Office strongly urges Congress to act to protect military personnel from the deceptive sales practices and unsuitable investments and insurance policies that the report says have been a disturbing fact of military life.

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs will examine the study at a hearing today in Washington. The report's delivery to Congress clears the way for the Senate to consider a bill that has been pending since early this year. The bill has twice passed the House with strong bipartisan support.

Senator Richard C. Shelby, Republican of Alabama and chairman of the banking panel, has said that passage of a law to protect troops from financial exploitation was a priority in the current session of Congress.

You can find the GAO study here.

From the Washington Post, Europeans Probe Secret CIA Flights:

The aim is to determine whether U.S. officials secretly used local airports and military bases to transfer terrorism suspects under conditions that violate local and international treaties.

This week, officials in Spain, Sweden, Norway and in the European Parliament said they had either opened formal inquiries or demanded answers from U.S. officials about CIA flights, in response to growing public opposition in Europe to U.S. anti-terrorism tactics.

In other countries, criminal probes have deepened into the alleged kidnapping of terrorism suspects by the CIA. In Italy, prosecutors last week filed a formal extradition request for 22 U.S. citizens alleged to be CIA operatives who are charged with kidnapping a radical Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003 and flying him to his native Egypt, where he said he was tortured.

The Post's World Briefing has two updates on war crimes tribunals in the Balkans:

THE HAGUE -- The trial of Slobodan Milosevic was adjourned until next week after the former Yugoslav president said he was feeling too ill to continue. The interruption came a day after Milosevic, 63, requested a six-week recess, citing a medical report that his heart condition has not stabilized. He has chronic high blood pressure.

AMSTERDAM -- The U.N. war crimes tribunal acquitted Sefer Halilovic, the highest-ranking Bosnian Muslim to stand trial in The Hague. The wartime Muslim commander was charged with murder for failing to prevent a massacre of Bosnian Croats in 1993, during the country's 1992-95 war.

Also in the Briefing, this update about a trial of a U.S. Airman in Japan ("A Japanese court on Thursday convicted a U.S. Air Force serviceman of molesting a 10-year-old Japanese girl on the island of Okinawa earlier this year. The Naha District Court gave Staff Sgt. Armando Valdez, 28, a suspended prison sentence of 18 months, a court spokesman said."). And, proving that war crimes have no statute of limitations, from the Post, Perpetrators of Ancient War Crime Sought.

From the NY Times, Torture Alleged at Ministry Site Outside Baghdad:

Iraq's government said Tuesday that it had ordered an urgent investigation of allegations that many of the 173 detainees American troops discovered over the weekend in the basement of an Interior Ministry building in a Baghdad suburb had been tortured by their Iraqi captors. A senior Iraqi official who visited the detainees said two appeared paralyzed and others had some of the skin peeled off their bodies by their abusers.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari held a hurriedly organized news conference to announce the official inquiry. He also said there would be a second investigation, including a comprehensive count of the thousands held in Iraqi jails, to determine whether there was a wider pattern of abuse, as many opponents of his government have claimed. He said the detainees had been moved to another location and had been given all necessary medical care.

A joint statement by the American Embassy and the United States military command called the situation "totally unacceptable" and said American officials "agree with Iraq's leaders that mistreatment of detainees will not be tolerated."

From the Washington Post, U.S. Used Phosphorous Munitions in Fallujah:

Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. forces in Fallujah "employed white phosphorus . . . as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants," but said that "suggestions that U.S. forces targeted civilians with these weapons are simply wrong."

Defense officials acknowledged that they could not rule out the possibility that the phosphorous munitions accidentally hit civilians during the Fallujah offensive, which involved the heaviest U.S. combat since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

U.S. troops who took part in the Fallujah battle recounted in detail their use of white phosphorus -- most commonly employed to obscure troops during an assault or to mark targets -- as an effective weapon for routing out insurgents from "trench lines and spider holes," according to an article written by three of the soldiers and published in the March-April 2005 issue of Field Artillery magazine.

Venable said munitions containing white phosphorus are not illegal and are considered conventional, not chemical, weapons.

Maybe... but lots of things are "conventional" weapons that may not be kosher depending on how they are used. Proportionality and necessity apply when employing any weapons system. Was it "proportional" and "necessary" to use WP artillery rounds when other rounds were available? I'm sure that will be a matter for investigation.

Also from the Post, Torture Alleged After U.S.-Led Raid Uncovers Iraqi-Run Prison.

From USA Today, Senate Votes To Ban Torture of Terrorism Detainees:

The Senate passed a defense bill Tuesday that would ban torture of terrorism detainees and grant them limited access to federal courts.

The Senate passed an amendment, 84-14, that would allow the roughly 500 detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to file one appeal of convictions by military tribunals if they face the death penalty or at least 10 years in prison. The appeals would be heard in federal court. Detainees also would be allowed to appeal their designation as enemy combatants.

The proposal would allow the court review in place of the right to file challenges to the constitutionality of their detention in federal courts, a right affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2004. The Bush administration has said the detainees have no right to appeal. Tuesday's vote set a middle ground.

The proposal by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was attached to a defense bill that the Senate passed 98-0. The amendment asks President Bush to push Iraq to take over its own security and to get U.S. troops home as soon as possible.

From the NY Times, Senate Republicans Push for a Plan on Ending the War in Iraq:

The Senate is also scheduled to vote Tuesday on a compromise, announced Monday night, that would allow terror detainees some access to federal courts. The Senate had voted last week to prohibit those being held from challenging their detentions in federal court, despite a Supreme Court ruling to the contrary.

Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who is the author of the initial plan, said Monday that he had negotiated a compromise that would allow detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to challenge their designation as enemy combatants in federal courts and also allow automatic appeals of any convictions handed down by the military where detainees receive prison terms of 10 years or more or a death sentence.

UPDATE: Katherine at Obsidian Wings has been the blawgosphere's biggest watchdog on the Graham Amendment, writing her latest post here and posting a copy of the amendment here. You can join in an ongoing discussion about the "amendment to the amendment" at the Volokh Conspiracy by placing a comment (currently 43) to the original post by co-Volokh Conspirator Orin Kerr.

UPDATE II: The Times published this op-ed from Anthony Lewis entitled Prisoners from the Senate, which likens the Graham Amendment to Ex Parte McCardle. Probably not the best comparison to make if you're criticizing a jurisdiction-stripping statute, since the government won in that case.

Also from the Times, Pentagon's Fuel Deal Is Lesson in Risks of Graft-Prone Regions:

Now the two businesses are under scrutiny by Kyrgyz prosecutors and F.B.I. agents who are looking into whether the president at the time, Askar Akayev, and his family pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars, partly from Pentagon fuel contracts, before he was ousted this year.

The family's involvement at the base, a critical site for refueling Air Force aircraft flying over Afghanistan, is a story of everyday cronyism in an impoverished country where the coming of the Americans was seen as a financial windfall for the well connected.

But the case also illustrates the risks of alliances with nations that are unstable and rife with corruption. Mr. Akayev's abrupt departure in March has put the Pentagon in an awkward bind. It needs continued access to the base, but the $207 million spent on fuel contracts has created resentment among the country's new leaders, some of whom contend that the United States knew where the proceeds were going.

From the Washington Post, Senators Agree on Detainee Rights, and Abuse Included Use of Lions, Iraqis Allege:

Two Iraqi men who were arrested in Iraq in 2003 but never charged with crimes say that U.S. troops put them in a cage with lions, pretended to execute them in a firing line and humiliated them during interrogations at multiple detention facilities.

Sherzad Khalid, 35, and Thahe Sabber, 37, say they were brutally beaten over several months at U.S. facilities such as Camp Bucca, Abu Ghraib prison and another detention facility at the Baghdad airport. They said the abuse occurred when they were unable to tell U.S. troops where Saddam Hussein was hiding and did not know about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
....
The two men are plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First against Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and top military commanders in Iraq. The suit contends that U.S. policies during the war allowed abuse and torture. Both men say that they were tortured and degraded for months before they were released.

From USA Today, Abuse of Detainees Undercuts U.S. Authority, 9/11 Panel Says:

The 10 members recommended the United States work with friendly nations to develop a detainee policy acceptable to all and to give detainees protections they do not currently have.

The 9/11 Commission was disbanded last year. Its members then formed a group called the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, which monitors response to the attacks. This is the group's third report.

Greetings and welcome to Blawg Review 32! First of all, I want to thank all the editors at Blawg Review for doing a whiz bang job marketing this very special edition. I feel honored to be hosting the Carnival of the Blawgs during Veterans Day Weekend. With that, I dedicate this edition to all of those who serve or have served in uniform, especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. Without your service, none of this is possible. OK, let the games begin!

Preferring Charges

In the American military justice system, a criminal case begins by the accuser preferring (or pressing) charges. Under the Uniform Code for Military Justice (UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. 801-946), anybody subject to the code may prefer charges. However, usually a soldier's immediate commander will prefer charges.

CrimLaw, the blawgosphere's central clearing house for all things criminal law, gets the ball rolling for us by giving us the weird news of the week. Included in this week's fare: No bail for computer virus makers, animal cruelty liberators with more heart than brains, and how being truly persistent can get you out of jail, if only for a few days.

Of course, when you're thinking about charging, you need to know the system. To that end, Norm Pattis from Crime & Federalism helps to clear up some myths about the criminal justice system. Among them: the cops don't have to read you your rights unless you're in custody, and the effect of CSI on juries helps the state as well as the defense.

So, who's been charged this week? Well, 5 more Guantanamo detainees (from yours truly at JAG Central). On that note, yours truly was charged by UCLA Professor Stephen Bainbridge (a professor I never took because I detest all things Business Law) as engaging in "hot action." Mike Cernovich charges the military justice system as being just, and the JAG Corps as being a golden opportunity for young lawyers. And Lisa Stone from the Law.Com BLOG Network says simply of Blawg Review #32: "I'm looking forward to [it]."

Jurisdiction and the UCMJ

Jurisdiction is easy to establish in the American armed forces. According to Article 2, UCMJ (10 U.S.C. 802), pretty much every service member on active duty is subject to court martial for a violation of the UCMJ, no matter where on Planet Earth (or elsewhere for military astronauts) the offense takes place.

Of course, things shouldn't be that easy, at least according to the United States Senate. In a never-ending effort to ensure poor dolts like me continue to be confused on Federal Courts final exams, the Graham Amendment has reared its ugly head. It aims to strip the federal courts of all ability to hear habeas petitions by Guantanamo detainees. Well, the good ol' folks at PrawfsBlawg (yes, the name says it all) have something to say about that: the floodgates that were supposed to open as a result of habeas litigation by Guantanamo detainees has actually been a tiny trickle. I wrote about the possibility of "lawfare" in this post. It appears from the prawfs that, so far, Phil Carter was right and Eugene Volokh was wrong. In a later post, the Prawfs wonder aloud whether the amendment's passage means the Supreme Court should have immediately dismissed Hamdan's case (which was heard the next day). Katherine, a twentysomething law student & former reporter, over at Obsidian Wings, has not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six posts about the Graham Amendment. Of course, Norm Pattis gets his two cents in about the whole Senate shin-dig: "Shame on the Senate for passing this excrement."

Of course, isn't it ironic that, at the same time Senator (Colonel, USAF) Graham is trying to strip the federal courts of jurisdiction, a convicted Air Force Airman is trying to strip him of jurisdiction to hear his case before the U.S. Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals. My co-blogger at JAG Central, LawyerDad, writes about the sticky constitutional and statutory issues over whether a sitting senator can serve in the JAG Corps and hear cases in this post, and sums up the news summaries of oral arguments in this post.

Finally, Holly Manges Jones over at JURIST's Paper Chase tells us about two foreign jurisdiction issues. An Italian prosecutor has filed for the extradition of 22 CIA operatives to face charges for the alleged kidnapping of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar. And, the Federal Court of Canada has decided to hear the asylum appeal of a US Army deserter, who claims that since the American war in Iraq is "illegal," going back to the Army could potentially subject himself to war crimes charges. Nice try, slacker.

Article 39(a) and RCM 802 Sessions

Unlike civilian practice, there are no sidebars in military practice. If the judge advocate needs to address something to the judge outside the presence of the members, the members must be formally excused from the courtroom. The court then has two options. For minor housekeeping matters (such as informing the judge of how long an examination will take, or what motions a JAG expects to make in the future), a Rule for Court Martial (RCM) 802 conference can be held in the judge's chambers or by e-mail. For more formal matters, such as making motions or extended objections, Article 39(a) (10 U.S.C. 839), UCMJ, calls for a formal session to be held on the record but outside the presence of the panel (jury) members.

One extended objection made in the blawgosphere this week was the resurgence of the DoJ's National Security Letter. Sabrina I. Pacifici at beSpacific rounds up the news on the resurgence, arguing that the 30,000 letters issued this year represents a "hundredfold increase over historic norms." Lisa Stone quotes some blawggers as saying: "I am glad to see that some are willing to challenge this practice and hope many others join them."

Clay S. Conrad, the Jury Geek, objects to the fact that lawyers and judges can't deal effectively with juries. Why not? First, "lawyers and judges have a lack of core competence, in that few of them understand the jury system. Secondly, lawyers and judges have an institutional conflict of interest with the jury."

Several blawggers object to our treatment of detainees and casualties this week. Dave Glazier and Jon Holdaway at Intel Dump write about the lawfulness of burning Taliban deceased. Jon Holdaway defends the practice, while Dave Glazier derides his fellow blawgger's "defense counsel" viewpoint. Meanwhile, Marty Lederman at Balkinization urges Juan Non-Volokh from the Volokh Conspiracy to quit living in the CIA Secret Prison past; there's so many other torture stories to write about! Finally, MahanAtma, guest blogging at Crime & Federalism, debunks the ticking time bomb theory he believes is rationalizing detainee torture.

"The Quiet Professionals"

On this Veterans Day, it's important to remember the sacrifices of those who serve quietly, behind the scenes. In Army JAG Offices, those are often the warrant officers who serve as our legal adminstrators. They make the office run, from installing and maintaining IT equipment, to balancing the office's budget. One such quiet professional who made the ultimate sacrifice was Chief Warrant Officer 5 Sharon T. Swartworth (pictured at left). CW5 Swartworth was killed in action on 7 November 2003 in Iraq when her helicopter was shot down while visiting JAG soldiers in the field. Those who knew her agree that she symbolized the finest traditions of the JAG Corps.

When it comes to chronicling the developments of the quiet professionals in civilian law offices, Jim Calloway at Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips does a bang-up job. This week, he urges young lawyers to support your local bar association, and not to be paralyzed by the prospect of complicated technology purchases. Also, he indulges in a little self-aggrandization (hey, I'm guilty of it too) by writing about the proliferation of his own subgenre, law management blogs.

Nivine Zakhari, a quiet professional over at Tech Law Geek, has a Veterans Day-themed post regarding her earlier work with veterans and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Remembering the veterans, Nivine writes, "This Tech Law Geek will always remember she's in their debt."

Rick Georges at FutureLawyer has a fix for those lawyers still stuck in the past using WordPerfect and trying to communicate with those who have finally gotten with the times. (Sorry; after eight years in the Army, I'm a Bill Gates .doc slave.)

I must apologize again; I don't know much about IP, even with the fine professors we had at UCLA. I'll leave explaining it to those in the know. According to Ronald Coleman at Likelihood of Confusion, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority is absolutely obsessed with it. Andrew Raff at IPTAblog notes that Google is giving away nearly 10,000 pieces of IP for free. One author who claimed Dan Brown stole the DaVinci Code from him obviously placed more value on his book than Google. The MassLawBlog explains how one federal judge handled this mess.

Post-Trial Matters

No, I'm not talking about the appeal. In the military justice system, the process provides the convicted service member a whole host of chances to have the findings reviewed, the sentence commuted, or the whole thing thrown out BEFORE appeal. This essentially places another check on the government to ensure that an accused is not railroaded by the likes of someone pictured at the left. Article 60, UCMJ (10 U.S.C. 860) governs the post-trial submissions to the convening authority.

Rounding up the post-trial submissions for this edition of Blawg Review are a series of posts about the BlawgThink conference held this week. Dave Swanner from the South Carolina Trial Law Blog wrote about his hesitance to attend the conference: "This was a tough call for me because I primarily see myself as a trial lawyer who has a weblog rather than a blogger who is also an attorney." Dennis Kennedy talks about his plans for BlawgThink: "What struck me . . . was that the reality of the BlawgThink we have created is far more like the initial vision than I thought." Of those attending the conference, George Lenard of George's Employment Blawg writes up Day 2 of BlawgThink: "It was a bit like an immigrant who never speaks his native language, but only reads it, getting invited to a party at which everyone converses in the mother tongue." Finally, Russ Krajec of Anything Under the Sun offers this post-mortem of BlawgThink: "In essence, this weekend has been an enormous internet dating ritual." Well, I guess my being married disqualifies me.

Thanks to everyone who sent in their posts; I couldn't have done it without you. If you didn't make this week's Blawg Review, try, try again! And this week, take another moment to remember those who serve in far away lands.

Blawg Review has information about next week's host, and instructions on how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.