Saturday, June 02, 2007

NMCCA opinions UA from MJ

In my post below, I noted that NMCCA's opinion in United States v. Stevenson, No. NMCCA 200301272 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. July 24, 2006), says that it is published but it never actually appeared in the Military Justice Reporter. It turns out that Stevenson is not alone. NMCCA's opinion in United States v. Tingler, No. NMCCA 200202380 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. Dec. 14, 2006), says it is published. Not in M.J. Same with United States v. Pflueger, No. NMCCA 200400213 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. Dec. 5, 2006). Same with United States v. Falcon, No. NMCCA 200401483 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. Oct. 10, 2006). Same with United States v. Gonzalez, No. NMCCA 200400055 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. Aug. 10, 2006). Same with United States v. Dickinson, No. NMCCA 200200311 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. Aug. 9, 2006). Same with United States v. Quinn-Monreal, No. NMCCA 200401632 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. Aug. 9, 2006). Same with United States v. Klemick, No. NMCCA 200300811 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. Aug. 7, 2006). Same with United States v. Schnable, No. NMCCA 9900852 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. July 27, 2006). Same with United States v. Harris, No. NMCCA 200401897 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. Jan. 24, 2007). Same with United States v. Edwards, No. NMCCA 200600836 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. Feb. 21, 2007). Same with United States v. Parker, No. NMCCA 9501500 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. Feb. 28, 2007). Same with United States v. Gallagher, No. NMCCA 200400151 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. Feb. 28, 2007). Same with United States v. Morgan, No. NMCCA 200401114 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. Apr. 10, 2007). And same with United States v. Culbertson, No. NMCCA 200000982 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. May 10, 2007).

That's a total of 15 UA opinions.

Nor are these "published" NMCCA opinions in WESTLAW. (They are all on LEXIS.) So anyone relying on the Military Justice Reporter or WESTLAW for legal research will miss a fairly considerable amount of controlling naval precedent.

It appears that the last published NMCCA opinion to actually appear in the Military Justice Reporter was United States v. Canchola, 63 M.J. 649 (N-M. Ct. Crim. App. 2006), aff'd, 64 M.J. 245 (C.A.A.F. 2007), which the Navy-Marine Corps Court released on 30 June 2006. (I don't actually have access to hard copies of the Military Justice Reporter at the moment -- I'm reaching that conclusion based on LEXIS and WESTLAW searches. I'll try to confirm that in hard copies of the M.J.)

Am I alone in thinking that this is a huge problem?

2 comments:

John O'Connor said...

A "huge problem"? Well, I guess it affects the 2% of TCs and DCs who actually conduct legal research (I may be overstating that percentage).

I assume the Code 45 and 46ers keep pretty good track of unpublished NMCCA opinions, though that obviously could be wrong.

Guert Gansevoort said...

While I have never been at Code 45 or 46, or even know what such "codes" are, I agree with JOC that it would not appear that many trial attorneys read NMCCA, C.A.A.F., or Supreme Court opinions. Just an observation.