Defense experts at a court-martial.

I have a long list of interesting "quotes"; you may know the 'skunk in the jury box' and something about a five-day-old dead fish. (Personally, I think the dead fish analogy sets the bar too high to establish an abuse of discretion; that's an impossibility, it seems, assuming the brief was not filed in person wrapped around the fish. Or is it. I remembered and retrieved this article from a little over a year ago.) Upon reporting to Code 45, I was told about the Division seal. See Colin A. Kisor, The Need for Sentencing Reform in Military Courts-Martial, 58 Nav. L. Rev. 39 (2009), at n. 13, (citing United States v. Jones, 7 M.J. 806, 808 (1979)), for the phrase "like ducks to water" in describing the civilianization of military justice, which was incorporated into the Code 45 seal with an image of three ducks. I forget why the snakes were incorporated (it was something along the lines of issues lurk within the record like snakes in the grass). Reading Ruhrup, I'm adding "Although an expert consultant frequently morphs into an expert witness . . . like a caterpillar into a butterfly . . ."

All humour aside, there is a lesson we all need to learn or remember about the distinction between requesting defense expert assistance pre-trial and at trial, and requesting a defense expert to testify. Unlike the Government, the defense has some wickets to climb over.

ACCA's teaching moment begins on page 4.

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Cheers.

It's reported that the TSA is adding a maggot-detecting function to its bag-screening process.