Rules and Law Governing Flyers, Cleansed Charge Sheets, and Flimsies

摘要

The rules and law governing flyers provide important guideposts to military practitioners to mitigate appellate risks that arise when using flyers at trial and sentencing. Those guideposts can be reduced to the following general practice points. 1. Defense counsel should state their objections, or lack thereof, to the flyer on the record. If defense counsel has objections, counsel should ensure the military judge's ruling is on the record. 2. Trial counsel should ensure that each court member-and defense counsel-has the same flyer and that the flyer is the final flyer approved by the military judge. 3. Trial counsel should present a flyer that includes only those specifications for which trial counsel has evidentiary support.