ON THE CAAFLOG

MARADMIN 571/11, released today, announces a major change to MCO P5800.16A, Manual for Legal Administration, creating the Defense Services Organization.

The complete manual, with the change, is located here.

Highlights include:

Paragraph 2001.5.b: Equal funding for training, resources, and facilities (commensurate with mission requirements) for defense and prosecution functions.
Paragraph 2002.3.g: Primary duty of Regional Defense Counsel (RDC) is training, mentoring, and supervision of defense personnel in the region; any caseload should not interfere with these primary duties.
Paragraph 2002.6: Detailing of auxiliary defense counsel (Review Officers specifically excluded â outrageous!).
Paragraph 2003.1: Normal defense tour will be at least 18 months long.
Paragraph 2004.3: If a defense counsel is scheduled for reassignment, and the Senior Defense Counsel wants to detail that DC a case that will extend past the reassignment date, and the reassignment issue canât be resolved locally, the matter will be forwarded to the CDC and then to the SJA to the CMC.
Paragraph 2006.1: âFor detailing purposes, the CDC is the OIC under JAGMAN section 0130(b) of the DSO and is the the [sic] detailing authority for Marine defense counsel.â Wow.

Colonel John Baker, USMC, is the current Chief Defense Counsel of the Marine Corps (CDC), and has led a number of initiatives, including establishment of the DSO, intended to strengthen the detailed defense counsel system in the Marine Corps.

"A fox should not be on the jury at a goose's trial." ~~Thomas Fuller

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