A CAAFlog exclusive: AFCCA's published opinion in United States v. Terry

On 8 February, the Air Force Court issued a published opinion in United States v. Terry, __ M.J. ___, No. Misc. Dkt. 2007-05 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. Feb. 8, 2008). It's not available yet on the Air Force Court's own web site or on LEXIS, but we have posed a copy on CAAFlog.com. Here's a link.

Terry was an Article 62 appeal of a military judge's ruling dismissing the charges where the government had improperly (but without bad faith) destroyed much of the evidence in the case between the original trial and the retrial following CAAF's reversal of the original trial. See United States v. Terry, 64 M.J. 295 (C.A.A.F. 2007). The Air Force Court reversed the trial judge, holding that he abused his discretion by ordering dismissal as a remedy because the destroyed evidence wasn't apparently exculpatory or of central importance to an issue essential to a fair trial.