United States v. Sneed

Judge JAMES

(concurring):

I agree with the disposition of both issues and with the reasoning that leads to disposition of the thrice-denied request for an expert. I also agree with the reasoning that the military judge’s unrecorded conversation before trial with defense counsel caused no prejudice.1 However, I view the military judge’s contact with the defense counsel as a conference under R.C.M. 802 (though certainly an imperfect example2). There is no other provision in the Rules which would permit such pretrial discussion of a case, and R.C.M. 802 exists to regulate such contacts with…