Tuesday, November 07, 2006

More Moreno

Apparently not satisfied with shaking the foundations of the military appellate system once, Marine Corporal Javier Moreno recently filed a petition for extraordinary relief seeking to have his military appellate defense counsel represent him on remand. On 31 October, CAAF denied the petition "without prejudice to Petitioner’s right to raise the issue asserted in the petition during the course of normal appellate review if he is convicted." Moreno v. Jones, Misc. No. 07-8003/NA. That phrase is amusing since "the course of normal appellate review" is so different now than before CAAF's last ruling in Cpl Moreno's case. United States v. Moreno, 63 MJ 129 (C.A.A.F. 2006).

--Dwight Sullivan

2 comments:

Jason Grover said...

How about the "if he is convicted" language? Normally these denials just say "on ordinary course of appellate review." Does that additionally language have any significance?

Guert Gansevoort said...

At his arraignment today, Corporal Moreno demanded the presence of his appellate defense counsel and informed the judge that the lawyer sitting next to him was not his counsel. The military judge was surprised and ordered both parties to brief the issue. Stay tuned.