They're not lawyers. They're not bound by the same ethical rules lawyers are. (I've also not seen any NCIS leaks - only a leak of the NCIS report. It does not follow that the NCIS was behind the leak).
A civilian lawyer is allowed to speak publicy in defense of their client.
Actually, they are not. They cannot publicly talk about facts other than procedural matters or a reminder that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty. See, for example, the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Section 3.6. (Most state's individual ethics rules track this requirement. As far as I know, all states have a substantially similar ethical rule.) Failure to comply is grounds for discipline, up to and including disbarment. (This is one thing that got Mike Nifong, the Duke Lacrosse prosecutor, in trouble.)
How does a defendant adjust, financially, to come up with expert witnesses in blood-pooling, video tape analysis, witness interrogation (in Iraq, mind you, with language barriers), photo analysis, shrapnel experts, etc.?
It's not easy. Sometimes the Court will pay for expert witness fees and other fees. I don't know the specifics.
You said, "Gamesmanship is what happens on TV. Real trial work isn't that way." I beg to differ.
Feel free. I can tell you what I know of trial work, based on education and a little experience.
A comment like "Congrats, Gents, we just got away with murder", or testimony that a Marine was playing with the victim's dead hand is pure gamesmanship by the prosecution
As far as I am aware, the prosecution (specifically the JAGs and the NCIS) have not leaked any such material. The only leaks I am aware of were from Congressman Murtha. The jurors selected will be vetted to make sure that they had not been exposed or tainted by this publicity. It's pretty straight-forward to select a jury pool (in this case, military officers) who didn't read the pretrial media coverage.
I'm not as advanced as putting stuff in italics
That's straightforward. What you want to see in italics will be done by < I > putting whatever you want inside < / I > (but take out the spaces).
Pretty soon, this is gonna be two pages long with you said, I say, somebody said.....:-)
Your comment, ..."It does not follow that the NCIS was behind the leak)."
Maybe they can put 60 investigators on the case to determine who all was involved. Haven't heard any results on this investigations yet. Hope the perp is found before the Haditha Marines begin their hearings.
A civilian lawyer is allowed to speak publicly in defense of their clients as the Thomas More Law Center did. They reviewed Murtha's behavior (he's not on trial), they reminded the public (which could include a panel member, General Mattis, Mr. and Mrs. Every Day American) of the stakes of the case, and they gave a nice overview of Lt. Col. Chessani's background. That's legal.
My comment: How does a defendant adjust, financially for ......
Your comment "It's not easy. Sometimes the Court will pay for expert witness fees and other fees."
This makes no sense. The prosecution doesn't have to beg the courts for hundreds of thousands of dollars for 60 NCIS investigators, trips to Iraq, etc. We the taxpayers are paying to come up with the evidence to convict our Marines. Why not a fair system? Every man-hour of subsidized prosecution expert provides the defense with similar subsidized expert witness. Both the prosecution and the accused Marine are payed by "We the People". Got any fancy work-around ideas to get this accomplished in front of the IO?
Next issue - the Gamesmanship issue. The "Congrats, Gents"... and hand slapping stuff was from the Hamdania case, not the Haditha case. My point was that the prosecution used their testimony to play games knowing these would be leading lines for the media. Do you have any ideas for the Haditha defense based on what you know of the case?
You said, "As far as I am aware, the prosecution (specifically the JAGs and the NCIS) have not leaked any such material. The only leaks I am aware of were from Congressman Murtha."
Well, No. 1, who in the chain of evidence leaked to Murtha in the first place? No. 2, who leaked all the NCIS evidence to the Washington Post (to include photos)? I don't think Murtha had the photos; These photos came from the culmination of a hunt by 60 investigators that "spanned the globe". Since an investigation was initiated by the military on the NCIS leaked evidence, wouldn't it be prudent to finish this investigation prior to hearings for any of the accused?
You said, "It's pretty straight-forward to select a jury pool (in this case, military officers) who didn't read the pretrial media coverage."
Now that's just plain scary. Who in the military is unaware of this coverage except someone who's been in outer space for the last year?
I don't want to argue each and every point. I'm looking for some thoughtful ideas on some creative ideas to help defend these Marines. Okay?
Thanks