How much judicial experience can one get in 24 months?

If you have been on the bench only 14 months, how much more experience do a few extra trials give you? Apparently, a lot.

An Air Force judge who had been considered too inexperienced last year to oversee the trial of five prisoners at Guantánamo Bay who are accused of plotting the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was named on Friday to preside in the case.

In October, Col. Matthew N. McCall was chosen as the judge for the death penalty case involving Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, but his name was withdrawn after prosecutors protested. Under the rules for military commissions, they said, he had not yet served for two years as a military judge, a prerequisite for a judge at the war court. He passed that milestone last month.

According to Air Force judiciary records, Col. McCall has presided in several sexual assaults and drug-related courts-martial of service members.

More reported here. 

In 2021, Col McCall has sat as judge in four courts-martial. (I did not count for last year.)

• One was a sexual assault and assault case where the enlisted members (jury) acquitted.
• One was a sex offense in which the members convicted and gave a reprimand and one pay grade reduction.
• Another was a drug case where the enlisted members acquitted.
• In the fourth, it looks like he was the arraignment and motions judge.

In 2021, Col McCall shows as having three courts-martial pending.

So, not counting last year, his current experience is four completed courts-martial.

It would appear the assignment is not based on "experience" as the article alludes but time on the bench, two different but complementary qualifiers. This is not an adverse reflection on Col McCall as a lawyer or a judge--rather, it says a lot about the military commissions. As well as any public reaction to the various difficulties over the years with trial judges, beginning with the Spath issue.

As an aside, I was at Gitmo a couple of weeks ago as an observer for NIMJ in the Kahn case. The tents and other modular housing are progressing as is the addition of a new courtroom.