Military Law

Army Charges Mom Who Refused Deployment Because of Infant Son

The Army has charged a single mother who says she didn’t show up for her Army deployment to Afghanistan because no one was available to care for her 10-month-old son. Spc. Alexis Hutchinson says her mother had agreed to take care of the child, but changed her mind after two…

Jan 14, 2010 12:26 PM CST

Iraq Veteran Jailed Over Stop-Loss Rap; It’s Just a Song, Lawyer Says

When the rest of his unit deployed to Iraq recently, a U.S. Army specialist who already is a veteran of the war there stayed behind. That’s because Marc Hall has been in custody since early December, accused by the military of making threats against others in a vulgar, violent rap…

Jan 7, 2010 12:01 AM CST

Gitmo Military Trials Will Move to Nation’s Heartland

Relying on an unidentified senior administration official, the Chicago Tribune reports that the White House plans to hold in the nation’s heartland future military commission trials of individuals now being held by the U.S. military as terrorism suspects. The official tells the newspaper that President Barack Obama plans to transfer…

Dec 15, 2009 11:01 PM CST

Supreme Court Turns Down Case Alleging Gitmo Torture

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by four former Guantanamo prisoners that alleged they were tortured and subjected to religious discrimination. The court announced today that it was rejecting the appeal, according to Fox News and Reuters. The former inmates, all British citizens, had claimed they…

Dec 14, 2009 5:30 PM CST

Five 9/11 Suspects Being Held at Gitmo to Be Tried in New York

Updated: The accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and four alleged co-conspirators will be tried in federal court in New York City just blocks from the site of the World Trade Center. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the decision this morning, according to the DOJ which posted the announcement…

Nov 13, 2009 10:25 PM CST

Lawyer for Alleged Fort Hood Shooter Questions Whether He Can Get a Fair Trial

The lawyer for the Army psychiatrist suspected of killing 13 people at Fort Hood says he thinks it will be difficult for his client to receive a fair trial at the military base. Lawyer John Galligan, who retired in 2001 as a military judge at Fort Hood, appeared this morning…

Nov 10, 2009 1:53 PM CST

Lack of Military Security Makes Trial Unfair, Blackwater Defense Lawyers Argue

Lawyers defending five former Blackwater Worldwide contractors in an Iraq manslaughter case are calling for the U.S. government to provide the same kind of security for their work that the prosecution team has received. The American military helped prosecutors and the FBI gather evidence, defense lawyers say, while they were…

Oct 21, 2009 10:27 PM CDT

Boy, 6, Reported Aloft, Alone in Balloon, Found Alive at Home

An accidental launch today of an experimental helium balloon reportedly sent a 6-year-old boy high into the air above Fort Collins, Colo., alone, as authorities—including the Colorado National Guard, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Air Force—pulled out the stops as they scrambled to try to figure out a…

Oct 15, 2009 10:18 PM CDT

Suit by Ex-White House Lawyer Says Prayers Incite Violence Against Him

A lawyer who challenged a foundation’s right to endorse military chaplains claims in a lawsuit that representatives of the organization are inciting violence against him through their prayers. Lawyer Michael Weinstein and his wife, Bonnie, claim in the suit that they want Gordon Klingenschmitt to “stop asking Jesus to plunder…

Oct 15, 2009 2:12 PM CDT

Law Firm Agrees to Pay $40K to Lawyer Who Lost Job After Military Stint

An Indiana law firm accused of refusing to rehire a staff lawyer who served in Iraq has agreed to pay $40,000 to resolve a suit filed by the Justice Department. The suit claimed the Indianapolis firm Mike Norris & Associates refused to rehire Mathew Jeffries after he returned from service…

Oct 1, 2009 1:04 PM CDT

White House Counsel Craig Loses Lead Gitmo Role

Problem-solver Pete Rouse, a former Congressional aide and top adviser, has replaced White House Counsel Gregory Craig as the individual in charge of the Obama administration’s planned closure of the United States military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, reports the Washington Post. The challenging situation requires the administration to find…

Sep 25, 2009 11:08 PM CDT

Fed’l Judge Slams US, Orders Release of Kuwaiti Man Held 7 Years at Gitmo

In a sealed decision last week that was declassified today, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., orders the release of a 50-year-old Kuwait Airlines engineer and slammed the United States for holding him for seven years at a U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. “If there exists a…

Sep 25, 2009 10:43 PM CDT

Judge Warns Lawyer Who Said Obama Can’t Deploy Army Captain to Iraq

A federal judge in Georgia has warned a lawyer contending in a court filing that President Barack Obama didn’t have the authority to deploy a U.S. Army captain to Iraq because he wasn’t, she claimed, born in the United States, not to make this argument again, reports the Ledger-Enquirer. The…

Sep 16, 2009 11:59 PM CDT

No Lawyers in US Plan Allowing Afghan Detainees to Challenge Detentions

Detainees at the American-run Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan will be allowed to challenge their detention under new Pentagon guidelines, but they won’t be represented by assigned lawyers. Instead, each detainee will be assigned a U.S. military official who can gather evidence and challenge the detention before a military-appointed review…

Sep 14, 2009 11:37 AM CDT

Law School Ring Returned to Retired JAG Officer 52 Years After He Lost It

Retired JAG officer Lloyd Kenyon Rector lost his class ring from Wake Forest University law school 52 years ago, when he left it in a restroom at a Newfoundland airport. Rector has the ring back today, thanks to a Canadian woman who found it in an old tackle box that…

Aug 27, 2009 3:48 PM CDT