National Institute of Military Justice
  • Home
  • About
    • Officers
    • Board of Directors
    • Fellows
    • Staff
  • CAAFlog
  • Global Reform
  • Library
    • Amicus Briefs
    • Position Papers & Letters
    • Reports
    • Gazette
    • Miscellaneous
    • General Military Law
  • Links
    • State Codes
    • Non-DoD Organizations
    • Foreign Systems
  • Prizes
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • About
    • Officers
    • Board of Directors
    • Fellows
    • Staff
  • CAAFlog
  • Global Reform
  • Library
    • Amicus Briefs
    • Position Papers & Letters
    • Reports
    • Gazette
    • Miscellaneous
    • General Military Law
  • Links
    • State Codes
    • Non-DoD Organizations
    • Foreign Systems
  • Prizes
  • Contact Us

CAAFlog

Army Court of Criminal Appeals-updated

6/11/2022

0 Comments

 
Opinion in Dial.
 However, we are ultimately more persuaded by the second basis which contends Congress determined that unanimous verdicts would unduly impede the efficiency of military operations. That is to say, deliberations towards unanimous verdicts are likely to take longer to achieve, thereby keeping participants from their military duties for reater periods of time. See Revision of the Articles of War, United States Senate, Subcommittee on Military Affairs, Statement of Brig. Gen. Enoch H. Crowder, United States Army, Judge Advocate General of the Army (1916), p. 27 [1916 Hearing]. Most importantly, when a unanimous verdict cannot be reached and a hung jury results, the command is faced with the prospect of either engineering a retrial or returning a service member with unresolved charges to its ranks.

Verdicts with a three-fourths majority, on the other hand, can presumably be reached more quickly on average and provide greater finality for both the command and the accused. Regardless of whether the military judge might agree with the result, striking this type of balance between the demands of due process and the need for military efficiency is one which rests within the discretion of Congress. See e.g, Mittendorf v. Henry, 425 U.S. 25, 43 (1975) ( expediency was valid justification for abrogating the right to counsel at summary courts-martial). As such, we are satisfied that military efficiency provides a rational basis for the longstanding decision of Congress to treat military accused differently than their civilian counterparts with regard to unanimous verdicts. Therefore, there is no violation of
equal protection even if we were to find civilian and military defendants similarly situated. 
A verified commenter says,
The fear of a hung jury, as an impediment to military efficiency, is wrong. The issue is a unanimous verdict to convict, not a unanimous verdict to acquit. The court footnotes the issue and says they are unaware of any other court in the country where a single vote for acquittal results in an acquittal. Perhaps, but there is no other court that convicts on a non-unanimous vote. The equal protection analysis is a different ballgame for the accused who are convicted under Art. 134, Clause 3 offenses. That is not the issue here but it's the issue in other pending cases. The military efficiency rationale won't hold up in these cases.

Cheers, Phil Cave.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Disclaimer: Posts are the authors' personal views and do not reflect the position of any organization or government agency.
    Picture
    Co-editors:
    Phil Cave
    Brenner Fissell
    Links
    ​

    UCMJ
    CAAF
    -Daily Journal
    -Current Term Opinions
    ACCA
    AFCCA
    CGCCA
    NMCCA
    Joint R. App. Pro.
    Global Reform
    Army Lawyer
    JAG Reporter

    CAAFlog 1.0
    CAAFlog 2.0

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022

    Categories

    All
    ByTheNumbers
    Case2Watch
    CrimLaw
    Evidence
    Fed. Cts.
    Habeas Cases
    IHL/LOAC
    Legislation
    MilJust Transparency
    NewsOWeird
    Opinions ACCA
    Opinions-ACCA
    Opinions AFCCA
    Opinions CAAF
    Opinions CGCCA
    Opinions NMCCA
    Sentenciing
    Sex Off. Reg.
    Sexual Assault
    Supreme Court
    Unanimous Verdicts

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly