Here is an interesting development in the U.S. military’s legal system:

An Army judge’s novel ruling to require a unanimous guilty verdict in an upcoming court-martial has drawn an array of characterizations by military law experts: totally wrong, partially right, rogue and brave among them.

But all the analysts interviewed for this story agreed on one thing. They said the ruling will most likely be overturned by an appellate court. 

Col. Charles Pritchard, a judge in Kaiserslautern, Germany, issued the 16-page ruling this month in response to a motion by the defense for Lt. Col. Andrew Dial, who is charged with three counts of sexual assault.

“This judge obviously put a great deal of effort into it and used his noggin,” said Eugene Fidell, a military law professor at New York University. “It takes some courage for a judge to do this, so my hat’s off to him.” 

Pritchard held that allowing a split guilty verdict would violate Dial’s constitutional rights under the Fifth Amendment guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law. 

In essence, he said the military must accord Dial the same right to a unanimous criminal jury guilty verdict as civilian defendants have been afforded in federal, and, since 2020, state courts.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the ruling will likely be overturned according to the article because Congress sets the rules for the military’s justice system. It is unlikely they will change the split verdict system because it will lead to a likely decrease in sexual assault convictions.

The North Koreans are having a busy few days launching missiles. I wonder if this part of the short notice readiness exercise they claimed to have conducted a couple of days ago?:

North Korea fired two suspected short-range ballistic missiles eastward from an airfield in Pyongyang on Monday, South Korea’s military said, in the recalcitrant regime’s fourth show of force this year.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the projectiles fired from the Sunan airport at 8:50 a.m. and 8:54 a.m., respectively, and that they flew about 380 kilometers at an altitude of 42 km.

“For more specific information, the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are conducting a detailed analysis,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters without further elaboration.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Justice in this case happened quickly:

A woman accused in the September killing of a U.S. soldier’s 3-year-old son was convicted Friday by a South Korean court and sentenced to 18 years in prison. 

Jamaica Eblacas, 30, was found guilty of killing the boy, Noa Calhoun, the son of Army Pvt. James and Kourtney Calhoun, by a three-judge panel at the Pyeongtaek Branch of the Suwon District Court.

Neither James nor Kourtney Calhoun appeared in court on Friday.

Eblacas admitted during a November court appearance to killing the child. She was charged with murder in conjunction with child abuse, which carries a minimum of three years in prison and a maximum penalty of death under South Korean law. Prosecutors had recommended a 30-year sentence.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

North Korea claims that their recent launch of two missiles from railway cars was a short notice training operation to test readiness of the unit:

North Korea said Saturday its railway-based missile regiment conducted a firing drill a day earlier, with two tactical guided missiles hitting a set target in the East Sea.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported the unit in North Pyongan Province bordering China staged the drill aimed at “checking and judging the proficiency” in its action procedures.

It marks the North’s second known missile test using a railway launch platform since the last one in September, and the country’s third show of force this year.

“The regiment received a firepower mission at short notice from the General Staff in the morning on Friday before swiftly moving to the firing ground, and precisely struck the set target in the East Sea of Korea with two tactical guided missiles,” the KCNA said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

In the Stars & Stripes they have an article posted about how the Camp Humphreys garrison commander’s wife is a Korean adoptee who has returned to Korea for the first time since she was a baby:

Tara Graves celebrates her birthday Saturday in South Korea, her first since she was born here more than 45 years ago.

Graves, 46, a personal fitness trainer and the wife of Camp Humphreys commander Col. Seth Graves, is among tens of thousands of South Koreans adopted to families around the world in the decades following the 1950-53 Korean War.

In 2020, the Army sent the Graves family from Brussels to South Korea, where Seth took command of the largest U.S. military base overseas. 

The new assignment hit home for Tara Graves: She had not been in South Korea since she was adopted at 6 months old, she told Stars and Stripes in December.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.