LCDR Diaz Argument Feb. 9 in Malibu
Must be a tough gig sitting on a court that gets to take its show on the road to places like Malibu. In case you had not seen, the oral argument in US v. Diaz is scheduled for Feb. 9 at Pepperdine, schedule here. Here is CAAF’s case summary:
Case Summary: GCM conviction of mailing classified information, conduct unbecoming and officer, communicating classified information, and removing classified material. Granted issues question (1) whether the lower courts misread the scienter and national security elements of the Espionage Act; (2) whether the military judge abused his discretion in rejecting as irregular Appellant’s proferred guilty plea to a violation of Article 133; (3) whether the evidence of the circumstances under which an accused acted, including his motive, is relevant to a charge under Article 133.
Here and here are links to some of our prior coverage of the Diaz case.
US v. Yammine is also scheduled for oral argument Feb. 10 at scenic Camp Pendleton. See prior coverage of Yammine at NMCCA here.
5 judges, at least 4 appellate counsel, clerks, admin staff, airfare, hotels, rental cars, per diem, etc. What do you think these 2 arguments are costing the government, 30 grand maybe? What’s the definition of waste & abuse?
Anything that promotes the military justice system is worth it. Waste and abuse would be if the Court held the arguments then just summarily affirmed the findings and sentence
Promoting the miljus system, what does that even mean?
And what happens when the court does this in a case with civilian counsel. Who pays for the civilian counsel? Ooops, the client, sorry, forgot.
interestingly, LCDR Diaz’s civilian counsel possibly has less experience than some Navy App Def counsel, see http://www.rjp.com/attorneys/index.html. No slight against Ms. K intended, but it is just unusual to see a civilian counsel that young in a case such as this. In fact, just the opposite, kudos to Ms. K for getting this case to CAAF.
And don’t forget the free dinner from Dean Ken Starr at Pepperdine Law School. That should assuage some of the embarrassment from not being trusted to handle the military commissions.