In a relatively short span of time, the United States Armed Forces has pushed a revitalized campaign to penalize alleged criminal offenders in the ranks. The Air Force Academy added protections for service members who report sexual assault, the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) was updated to distinguish domestic violence from assault, and United States Secretary … Read more
In United States v. Schloff, 74 M.J. 312 (CAAF 2015), the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) maintained the definitions of sexual contact in military criminal justice settings. In particular, it held sexual contact described in Article 120(g)(2) can be defined by body-to-body contact and/or object-to-body contact. Perhaps more importantly, though, it and the Army Criminal … Read more
In September 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) reversed the 2015 sexual assault conviction in the Navy case of U.S. v. Barry. At the time, the reason for the reversal as well as the steps to follow in order to complete it seemed questionably and overly complicated. However, the situation only continues … Read more
The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) recently deemed Colonel Wilson’s child sex abuse conviction to be factually insufficient, with a focus on inconsistent testimonies from the six-year-old child who alleged the abuse. Not only did the CCA question the validity of the conviction, but it did so with multi-thousand-word opinion piece rarely seen before in … Read more
On September 5th, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) ultimately agreed to reverse the original sexual assault conviction in the Navy case of United States v. Barry. However, the process to undo that conviction and reach a new conclusion is largely contested, with the CAAF split as to how to decide and … Read more
The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is the military’s code of law. It covers everything from minor infractions to serious felonies. Article 120 relates specifically to sexual misconduct, including sexual contact, assault, and rape. Sex crimes always receive harsh punishments, but the sentence could be even more severe if you are enlisted in the … Read more