More Than Just Implied Bias...: The Year In Pleas And Pretrial Agreements, Article 32, And Voir Dire And Challenges

摘要

If there is a singular message from the cases this term involving the use of the guilty plea inquiry, the denial of the challenge for cause, and the closure of the Article 32 investigation, it is that these particular areas are fraught with peril. Military judges and counsel must know the standards that apply to these areas of criminal procedure and apply them correctly. During this term, the courts made a deliberate effort to clarify the rules applicable to these three different areas of the law to ensure that trial practitioners know the standards and the military judges apply the correct rules. The 2007 term of court proved extraordinarily fruitful in terms of law regarding pretrial procedures. If the cases that have come out thus far in the 2008 term are any indication, court-martial procedure at the pretrial stage will continue to provide plenty of work for the appellate level for the CAAF as well as the service courts.