Waiver of Appellate Issues

I am constantly surprised at how many service members plead guilty at a court martial without realizing the affect that the guilty pleas has on their ability to appeal their court martial conviction. I am frequently contacted by people wanting to appeal their court martial conviction after they pleaded guilty at trial. Many of these people even have good appellate issues. Unfortunately, most guilty pleas waive (legal term meaning to give up a right, in this case the right to have an appellate review) most appellate issues. These situations often arise when a crucial piece of government’s evidence was possibly obtained illegally, such as a search without a warrant or a confession that was taken without informing the accused of his rights. The accused then seeks to have that evidence suppressed at a motions hearing. In many cases after the accused loses the motion, he pleads guilty. What many don’t realize is that they are waiving their right to have the appellate court examine the issue that the military judge ruled on.
It is impossible to make an informed decision without having all the facts. If you are considering pleading guilty, be sure to discuss how that plea will affect your ability to appeal your case. Know what rulings have been made in your case and discuss the possibility of those rulings being reversed on appeal and be certain that you clearly understand whether your guilty plea will waive those issues.
Sometimes, the best course of action is to plead guilty, even if it means waiving appellate issues. But when an accused proceeds without discussing the facts and the law with his attorney, he may end up taking a deal that he will regret the rest of his life.

PTSD

The tragic shootings at a stress center at Camp Liberty, Iraq have once against put Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the news. Details have not emerged yet as to whether the shooter was suffering from PTSD, but a significant number of service members do struggle with PTSD. As the years that the United States has been in Iraq and Afghanistan have gone by, more and more clients that I have represented have had PTSD. Some of these clients have found themselves at a court martial; others have been the subject of negative administrative action.
So the question becomes, why do so many military members with PTSD find themselves in trouble? Certainly part of it is due to the increase in the total number of PTSD cases in the military. A certain percentage of the military is always going to be in trouble and the higher the percentage of the military has PTSD it stands to reason that there will be more service members in trouble with PTSD.
However, just the increase in the total number of PTSD cases in the military does not adequately explain the reason so many service members with PTSD are being sent to a court martial. PTSD can make people irritable and impulsive. Certainly if those in the military act on those impulses or are getting in fights or being disrespectful because they are irritable, that can cause them to be sent to a court martial. But the single biggest reason, in my opinion, is that these individuals tend to try to self medicate themselves. They turn to alcohol or drugs to try to make them feel better, to try to sleep, and to try to forget the horrors of what they saw. Of course, if the service member then tests positive for drugs on a urinalysis, he will be sent to a court martial or be processed for administrative separation. The worse problem, thought, is that many of them when under the effects of the alcohol or drugs will do things that they would not ordinarily do. PTSD and drugs or alcohol is a combination that has ruined many a service member’s career and even life. The drugs and alcohol can make the irritability and impulsiveness worse and they find themselves committing serious criminal acts that they never would have committed if sober.
So what can a service member with PTSD do? The most important thing is to get professional help. Unfortunately, many see this as a sign of weakness. It is not. Others fear that it will impact their career. It is not supposed to, but if you are concerned that it may, talk to an attorney about it. When someone breaks a bone, they get professional help and they don’t feel bad about needing it. Mental injuries should be handled no differently.