Florida law provides that any portion of a military retirement earned during the course of a marriage is subject to equitable distribution.  That means that even where parties are married for one month, a servicemember may have to give the former spouse a share of a future military retirement. Federal law provides the ceiling for […]

BOIs and Retirement Grade Determinations A reduced paygrade for retirement will reduce your retired pay. 1 Can a retirement eligible officer just retire?If a retirement eligible officer is detached for cause or the subject of a report of misconduct (normally following NJP/Article 15, a civilian conviction, or court-martial), the officer cannot simply submit a retirement […]

Now the government has your DNA profile Forever, and you were never convicted of anything. 1 The United States Supreme Court has said taking DNA is lawful.In Maryland v. King, 569 U.S. 435 (2013), the United States Supreme Court decided that “when officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious […]

Coca is known throughout the world for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. The alkaloid content of coca leaves is relatively low, between 0.25% and 0.77%. The native people use coca leaves for a stimulant, like coffee, or an energy source or both. Coca-Cola used coca leaf extract in its products from 1885 and until about 1903.  […]

Unfortunately, actually nailing down military law can be difficult.  There are many sources of military law.  They are, generally, the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), the Rules for Courts-Martial (RCM), the Manual For Courts-Martial (MCM), the Military Rules of Evidence (MRE), regulations issued by military departments and commanders, and, finally, case law established by […]

10 U.S. Code Section 1102 provides: Medical quality assurance records created by or for the Department of Defense as part of a medical quality assurance program are confidential and privileged.  Because of that, I can’t share many details of my military medical provider adverse privileging action wins; however, I have now won cases in all […]

In courtrooms across the United States – both state and federal – juries are told to go into jury deliberations room and reach a verdict.  The jury enters the deliberation room and re-appears some time later with a verdict on the charges.  The procedure employed to reach that verdict, however, varies from jury to jury, […]

This week there was another revelation about military drug labs and military drug testing that undermines the reliability of the system.  I have previously spoken about the employee tampering at the Norfolk Navy Drug Testing Laboratory (NDSL) before it was shut, the false positives at NDSL Great Lakes and San Diego (before it was shut […]

DISCLAIMER:  This article is for general awareness only and is not legal advice.  Every criminal defendant’s case is unique and requires independent legal analysis.  If you desire legal advice, you should contact an attorney. Jacksonville, Florida is the home of Naval Station Mayport, the second largest surface ship base on the East Coast, and Naval […]

There has been a lot of press recently about the court-martial for the former Skipper of the USS JOHN S. MCCAIN that occurred at the Washington Navy Yard on May 25, 2018.  The MCCAIN collided with another ship on August 21, 2017 off Singapore, which resulted in the loss of 10 Sailors.  CDR Alfredo Sanchez […]