United States v. Roser

I join my brothers in the disposition of this case and applaud their effort to “free trial judges from the shackles of misunderstanding” generated by United States v. Giarratano, 20 M.J. 553 (A.C.M.R.), pet granted, 21 M.J. 84 (C.M.A.1985) and Unit*856ed States v. Southers, 18 M.J. 795 (A.C.M.R.1984).

In both cases the trial judges encountered situations where commanders had tampered with the testimony of potential defense witnesses. Among the remedies employed by them to rectify the problem was to restrict the government from presenting adverse evidence against the accused. The trial judge in the…