This week in military justice -- 4 January 2009 edition

The military justice system will now lurch into action for the first real business week of 2009.

This week at the Supreme Court: The Solicitor General's merits brief in United States v. Denedo, No. 08-267, is due on Friday. Once it's post on the SG's web site, we'll post a link.

This week at CAAF: CAAF has no scheduled oral arguments this week but could issue opinions and/or grants.

This week at the CCAs: There do not appear to be any scheduled oral arguments at ACCA, AFCCA, or NMCCA this week. The Coast Guard Court doesn't appear to post its oral argument schedule on the web. Does anyone know of a good source for that information?

This week in courts-martial: The North County Times, which is an indispensable source of information for military justice developments in the Camp Pendleton area, is reporting that Sgt Jermaine Nelson's court-martial, which had been scheduled to start tomorrow, has been pushed back due to a ruling from the military judge granting a defense expert witness request. The military judge in the case is Judge Jeffrey Meeks -- the same judge as in the Wuterich case. Sgt Nelson is reportedly charged with unpremeditated murder and three specs of dereliction of duty. This is a companion case to United States v. Nazario, which was tried as a MEJA case in the United States District Court for the Central District of California and which resulted in a complete acquittal. During that trial, Sgt Nelson was one of two Marines jailed for contempt for refusing to testify.

As always, please let us know if you're aware of any other significant military justice developments or news. You can reach us at caaflog@caaflog.com.