Court Martial Lawyer – N.S. reservist’s court martial in shooting death underway
Cape Breton Post
SYDNEY, N.S. — The manslaughter trial of Cpl. Matthew Wilcox began Monday in connection with the shooting death of Cpl. Kevin Megeney in Afghanistan in March 2007.
Wilcox, a native of Glace Bay, N.S., has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
The prosecution has about 40 witnesses it will call during the voir dire hearing beginning Monday to determine the admissibility of evidence.
It’s expected to last three to four weeks prior to the assembly of the panel, which performs the same function as a civilian jury.
The trial is expected to continue until at least July 31 and will likely include testimony from 105 witnesses.
Wilcox, a member of the 2nd Battalion Nova Scotia Highlanders, was resolute in responding to military judge Cmdr. Peter Lamont at a pre-trial hearing Friday on the charges of manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and negligent performance of duty, as his family looked on.
“In order to move on, or move forward, to another phase of the proceedings the plea was required (Friday),” said defence counsel Lt.-Col. Troy Sweet.
Both Wilcox and Megeney were alone in a tent on the Kandahar airfield base on March 6, 2007, when a single shot was fired from Wilcox’s 9-mm army-issued handgun.
At Friday’s hearing, Lamont dismissed a defence application to move the court martial to Kandahar airfield. Although, he said the defence will be allowed to reapply to the court to have the panel view the tent at Kandahar, upon opening its case.
Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States. military-defense-lawyer-recentcases.htm.
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