United States v. Stellato

Judge OHLSON delivered the opinion of the Court.*

The accused1 was charged with sexually-assaulting his young daughter on various occasions over the course of a one-and-a-half-year period. More than a year after charges were preferred, the military judge dismissed the charges with prejudice because of discovery violations, finding that the trial counsel’s failure to provide discovery was “continual and egregious,” the trial counsel’s approach to discovery was “recklessly cavalier,” and the trial counsel’s actions constituted “an almost complete abdication of discovery duties.” Following the…