Free Joint Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:05-cv-00410-MMS

Document 26

Filed 10/10/2006

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS MARIO R. LOPEZ-VELAZQUEZ, Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 05-410C (Chief Judge Damich)

JOINT STATUS REPORT Pursuant to this Court's November 1, 2005 order, the parties respectfully submit the following Joint Status Report regarding the status of proceedings before the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records ("AFBCMR" or "board"). The board has received an advisory opinion from the Air Force Legal Operations Agency regarding the standard for ineffective assistance of counsel in a pre-trial context such as the circumstances under which the plaintiff in this matter agreed to a discharge in lieu of a courts-martial. Mr. Lopez-Velazquez has been afforded an opportunity to respond to that opinion. In addition, the board has obtained the record of an ethics investigation involving the attorney who represented Mr. Lopez-Velazquez in the criminal proceedings prior to his discharge from military service. Mr. Lopez-Velazquez's counsel has requested a copy of the report, and the board is requesting permission from the Judge Advocate General to release the ethics report to Mr. Lopez-Velazquez's current counsel. The coordination with the Judge Advocate General on the release of the report has taken longer than expected, in part due to short staffing at the office of professional responsibility. We expect an answer by October 16, 2006 whether the report will be released. If such permission is granted, the AFBCMR intends to allow Mr. Lopez-Velazquez an opportunity to comment upon that part of the record. The AFBCMR expects to be able to render

Case 1:05-cv-00410-MMS

Document 26

Filed 10/10/2006

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an opinion within 30 days of Mr. Lopez-Velazquez's response. To allow for the completion of the AFBCMR review along the lines described herein, the parties respectfully request that this Court stay this matter for an additional 60 days, from October 10, 20061 until December 11, 2006.

Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER. Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director s/ Todd M. Hughes TODD M. HUGHES Assistant Director s/ Gary Myers GARY MYERS 78 Clark Mill Road Weare, NH 03281 Attorney for Plaintiff s/ Michael J. Dierberg MICHAEL J. DIERBERG Trial Attorney Department of Justice Civil Division Commercial Litigation Branch 1100 L. Street, NW Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20530 Tel: (202) 353-0536 Fax: (202) 305-7643 Attorneys for Defendant

October 10, 2006

1

The prior joint status report requested a stay until October 9, 2006, which was a Federal

holiday.