Civilian Court Martial Attorneys: Who Defends Service Members Facing Military Charges
A service member who learns the government intends to court-martial them is rarely told the most important fact first: they will not face that trial alone,…
Notable courts-martial · Case studies
Court Martial
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49 entriesThe Sanick Dela Cruz Case: Immunity and Testimony at Haditha
Most court-martial stories end with a verdict. The Sanick Dela Cruz case ended without one. He was charged with the deaths of five Iraqi men, then…
The John Walker Espionage Case: Inside the Walker Spy Ring
The name attached to this case is misleading in a way that itself teaches a lesson about military justice. John Anthony Walker Jr. spent two decades…
What Happens If You Miss Movement in the Military
The aircraft lifts off, the ship pulls away from the pier, or the convoy rolls out the gate, and one name on the manifest is not…
What Happens If You Abuse Your Rank in the Military
The order is lawful on its face. A staff sergeant tells a junior soldier to report for extra duty, to stay late, to take on a…
The Michael Walker Espionage Case: A Sailor Recruited by His Father
The Michael Walker case answers a question that sits at the center of how the United States punishes espionage: does a junior participant who never met…
The Jackie Robinson Court-Martial: A Bus, a Refusal, and an Acquittal
The most revealing thing about the 1944 court-martial of 2nd Lt. Jack Roosevelt Robinson is what he was not charged with. The confrontation that started everything…
What Happens If You Lose Your Weapon in the Military
Few things in military service trigger a faster response than a missing weapon. Within minutes of a discovered loss, an installation can go into lockdown, gates…
What Happens If You Get Arrested Off Base in the Military
The flashing lights in the rearview mirror, the knock on an apartment door, the bar fight that ended with city police instead of the shore patrol.…
The Robert Bales Court-Martial: The Kandahar Massacre and a Plea to Avoid Death
When a soldier admits in open court that he murdered sixteen sleeping civilians and cannot say why, the case stops being about whether he did it…
The Billy Mitchell Court-Martial: Insubordination and the Birth of Air Power
Can a service member be punished for telling the truth about his own military? In 1925 a court of generals answered yes, and the answer still…
What Happens If You Lie on Enlistment Papers in the Military
A recruit reaches the question about prior arrests. The honest answer would have meant a waiver request, a delay, maybe a rejection. So the box gets…
What Happens If You Negligently Discharge Your Weapon in the Military
The sound is unmistakable. A gunshot where no gunshot should be, in a clearing barrel line, a barracks room, a guard tower, and in that instant…
Jesse Spielman and the Mahmudiyah Murders: How a Lookout Drew 110 Years
How does a soldier who never fired a shot, never entered the room where a family was being killed, and was described by prosecutors as a…
The Clint Lorance Court-Martial: An Order to Fire and a Presidential Pardon
Most military-justice cases ask whether a soldier was right to disobey. The Clint Lorance case asks the opposite question, and it is the more uncomfortable one:…
The Ivan Frederick Court-Martial: The Senior NCO at Abu Ghraib
When abuse runs through a unit, military law does not treat the senior person in the room the way it treats the most junior. The noncommissioned…
The Jerry Whitworth Espionage Case: The Walker Ring’s Fourth Spy
Two men sold the same kind of secret to the same enemy under the same statute, and one received a life sentence while the other drew…
The William Calley Court-Martial: My Lai and the Limits of “Just Following Orders”
Can a soldier escape a murder charge by saying he was only obeying his commander? The court-martial of First Lieutenant William L. Calley Jr. is the…
What Happens If You Refuse Deployment in the Military
The order comes down. Your unit is deploying. You are going with them. In that moment, some service members face a choice that feels like it…
What Happens If You Refuse or Disobey an Order in the Military
The order is simple and the moment is not. A sergeant tells a private to police the motor pool; a company commander directs a lieutenant to…
The Adam Winfield Court-Martial: The Soldier Who Warned His Father
Can a soldier who tried to expose a string of murders still be convicted in connection with one of them? The court-martial of Specialist Adam C.…
The Frank Wuterich Court-Martial: Haditha, the Rules of Engagement, and a Plea to Dereliction
The Haditha case asked a question military courts find among the hardest to answer: when does combat become a crime? On November 19, 2005, a Marine…
The Jeremy Morlock Court-Martial: Cooperation and a Capped Sentence in the Kill Team Case
Why does a soldier who admitted helping to murder three unarmed civilians serve 24 years, while the sergeant who led the killings serves a life sentence?…
What Happens If You Assault an Officer or NCO in the Military
A staff sergeant chews out a private in the motor pool, the private has had enough, and a fist lands. In a civilian workplace that is…
The Andrew Holmes Court-Martial: The Youngest of the Kill Team
A soldier who never planned a killing, never gave the order, and was told by a superior to open fire can still be convicted of murder.…