Saturday, May 26, 2018

Court-martial appellant dies, widow is substituted

The widow of a Nigerian brigadier general who died after having been convicted by a court-martial has been permitted to continue the appeal in her own name. The Supreme Court's reason: she stands to lose a fortune as a result of forfeiture of property ordered by the court-martial. Details here.

Justice has ground on slowly in this case:

Trial ended: Sept. 30, 2005
Notice of appeal filed: May 22, 2009
Death of the accused: Oct. 22, 2014
Widow's application to substitute: Apr. 27, 2015
Supreme Court grants application: May 25, 2018
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1 comment:

  1. Phil CaveMay 26, 2018 at 8:33 PM

    Interesting.

    "An appellant is entitled to an appeal of right and his
    death prior to completion of that appeal generally entitles him
    to abatement of the proceedings ab initio. United States v.
    Rorie, 58 M.J. 399, 400 (C.A.A.F. 2003)."
    http://www.armfor.uscourts.gov/newcaaf/opinions/2006Term/05-0117.pdf

    Ribaudo dealt with the question when the rule is no longer applicable.

    "Ribaudo died after the Court of Criminal Appeals rendered its decision under Article 66(c), UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 866(c) (2000), but before the period to request reconsideration of that decision expired. Ribaudo’s appellate defense counsel argues that he is entitled to abatement ab initio because his appeal of right was not complete. We hold that once a Court of Criminal Appeals issues its decision under Article 66(c), UCMJ, an appellant has
    received his appeal of right and is no longer entitled to
    application of the policy of abatement ab initio."

    ReplyDelete

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