Military trial of duty

Daniel J. Karin L. Nicholson 4 Department of Medicine, Carl R. Brittany N. Brooke A. Katherine A. Brett T. John D. Alan L. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer.

Corresponding author. Address correspondence to: Kristi E. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Study Objectives: The aim of this study was to obtain preliminary data on the efficacy, credibility, and acceptability of Exposure, relaxation, and rescripting therapy for military service members and veterans ERRT-M in active duty military personnel with trauma-related nightmares.

Keywords: nightmares, trauma, rescripting, imagery rehearsal, exposure. Open in a separate window. Figure 1. Table 2 Demographic characteristics. Treatment Exposure, relaxation, and rescripting therapy for military service members and veterans ERRT-M was composed of 5 individual minute sessions.

Minimal contact control Those assigned to the MCC group were contacted for a brief 5-minute check-in safety call every week for 5 weeks. Therapists and fidelity Treatment was conducted by 3 licensed clinical psychologists and 1 licensed clinical social worker. Instruments Instruments for this study were selected in accordance with the common data elements developed for the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD 35 and to assess nightmares in detail.

Trauma-Related Nightmare Survey The Trauma-Related Nightmare Survey is a item measure that uses dichotomous and Likert-scale items to assess nightmare frequency, severity, and characteristics eg, similarity between nightmares and traumatic events, duration of chronic nightmares, onset of chronic nightmares , as well as cognitions, emotions, and behaviors associated with nightmares. Insomnia Severity Index The Insomnia Severity Index is a 7-item measure that assesses difficulties falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking too early, as well as distress related to sleep difficulties.

Fear of Sleep Inventory-Short Form The Fear of Sleep Inventory-Short Form is a item measure that assesses trauma-related thoughts and activities associated with sleep and the occurrence of traumas associated with the bedroom or sleep. Patient Health Questionnaire The Patient Health Questionnaire is a self-report scale that assesses the frequency of each of the 9 symptoms of major depressive disorder as defined by the DSM-5 during the past 2 weeks.

Training and supervision of independent evaluators The diagnostic clinical interviews ie, the CAPS-5 37 and the SCISD 38 were conducted by masters- or doctoral-level independent evaluators who were unaware of the treatment condition of the participants.

Data analysis This pilot study was designed to examine the credibility and acceptability of ERRT-M and to determine the effect size associated with ERRT-M when used to treat a sample of active duty service members experiencing nightmares.

Table 3 Intent-to-treat analyses by condition and time. Table 4 Outcomes through follow-up for the total treated sample. Credibility and acceptability As shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 , participants generally endorsed medium to high ratings indicating that they perceived the treatment to be credible and that they expected to experience benefits as a result of treatment.

Figure 2. Treatment credibility ratings. Figure 3. Treatment expectancy ratings. Limitations and future directions While this pilot study provides important data for the investigation of nightmare treatment among active duty service members, this study was limited by a number of factors. Lavie P. Sleep disturbances in the wake of traumatic events. N Engl J Med.

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J Trauma Stress. Randomized controlled trial of imagery rehearsal for posttraumatic nightmares in combat veterans. Randomized controlled trial to dismantle exposure, relaxation, and rescripting therapy ERRT for trauma-related nightmares. Physiological predictors of response to exposure, relaxation, and rescripting therapy for chronic nightmares in a randomized clinical trial. Randomized clinical trial for treatment of chronic nightmares in trauma-exposed adults.

Efficacy of a brief treatment for nightmares and sleep disturbances for veterans. Cognitive-behavioral treatment for chronic nightmares in trauma-exposed persons: Assessing physiological reactions to nightmare-related fear. J Clin Psychol. The Court-Member Panel. Similar to civilian juries, court-martial members are officers or enlisted persons from the same community or command "jury of peers" as the servicemember on trial.

In civilian communities, serving on a jury is a duty of citizenship, and local court officials will "summon" citizens to serve as jurors. In the military, the convening authority assigns members to serve as jurors, and that becomes their primary military duty. Voir Dire and Challenges. Just as with civilian jurors, court-martial members must be impartial and may make no decisions about a case until the military judge directs them to begin deliberations. Each side -- prosecution and defense -- gets a chance to ask the court-martial members questions to ensure that members are impartial.

If a court-martial member's impartiality is brought into question, or if it is otherwise inappropriate for that member to serve on the court-martial, the military judge will dismiss him or her, as would a civilian judge.

As is done in civilian courts, the prosecution or defense may also remove a court-martial member "peremptorily," meaning without a stated reason. In military practice, both the prosecution and defense are afforded one peremptory challenge.

Also, like a civilian defendant, except in a capital case, a servicemember on trial may decide to have the judge decide his guilt or innocence, rather than court-martial members.

Trial on the Merits. Once the court-martial members are selected, the case is ready to proceed "on the merits," that is, evidence will be presented about the guilt or innocence of the servicemember.

As with any civilian case, the military prosecutor called a "trial counsel" presents evidence on the charges. The servicemember on trial called "the accused" may confront this evidence and cross-examine any witnesses. The servicemember may also present evidence and, through the military judge, compel witnesses to appear. Rules of Evidence. What evidence is admissible in a court-martial is spelled out in the Military Rules of Evidence M.

Defense Counsel. In all special and general court-martial cases, a military attorney, called a "detailed defense counsel," represents the servicemember on trial. The servicemember may also request a specific military attorney to join his defense team and, if available, that attorney will also be detailed free of charge to the defense team. Finally, at his own expense, the servicemember may hire a civilian defense attorney without losing his detailed defense counsel.

Closing Arguments and Burden of Proof. Mirroring the practice in civilian courts, once both prosecution and defense counsel have presented their evidence, they get to make "closing arguments. Our client also made a statement to CID that did not help his case. Because of the sensitivity of the case, we are not including details, but the facts were not good for the defense.

Our objective was to avoid a sex offender registration and jail time. Waddington and Sleesman confronted the three alleged victims one by one, disproving their stories.

Our client was accused of breaking into the room of a sleeping Airman, raping her, slapping her around, and abusing her. A SANE sexual assault nurse examination was conducted the next morning and found DNA, semen, bruising, and other physical, forensic, and scientific evidence. He faced a maximum punishment of life in prison, a Dishonorable discharge, and sex offender registration.

This was a tough case because we faced a victim that was melodramatic and four highly regarded experts that were ready to testify against our client, including a Forensic Nurse, two DNA experts, and a forensic psychologist. Waddington and Captain Brittany Musleve requested an enlisted jury and prepared to contest all charges.

We brought our own team of experts to the battle, including Dr. Jeffrey Younggren, a forensic psychiatrist, Dr.

Pamela Tabor, a renowned forensic sex assault expert, and Dr. Norah Rudin, a DNA expert. We all traveled to Beale AFB for the trial and were ready to fight. Using Facebook and other social media, we were able to learn information about the complaining witness, including information about her motive to make a false accusation and her untruthfulness. While this was no guarantee of success at trial, it gave us some leverage. The day before the trial, the prosecution offered to dismiss all charges if our client left the military discharge in lieu of court-martial.

Our client decided to accept the discharge and avoid the risks associated with a contested trial. In a jury trial, there are no guarantees. No conviction, no criminal record, no sex offender registration. Our client, with over 20 years of service and 2 small children, was charged with a total of 52 charges and specifications.

He was also accused of various crimes against a second victim. He faced 5 life sentences without the possibility of parole. In addition to the life sentences, he faced an additional years in prison, a Dismissal, and sex offender registration.

This case was a challenge because the victim reported the next morning and went to the emergency room. There was physical and forensic evidence including injuries to the face and body, missing hair, and bruises.

Alleged victim 1 was married to an Army E The story took a twist when we learned that the alleged victim was stalking our client, showing up at his place of work, dealing drugs, and begging him for sex. On one night, she showed up at his house 3 weeks after he supposedly raped her and demanded sex. Although our client had a no-contact order, he let the woman into his house and they had sex.

He audio recorded her begging for sex, moaning, and the sex itself. We were also able to collect Facebook, SnapChat, and Instagram evidence that proved the woman was a psycho. We presented this evidence to the prosecution hoping to get the charges dropped. Instead of dropping the charges, they added additional charges and threw our client into pretrial confinement.