Court-martial procedures

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The defendant is assigned a military lawyer and can also hire a civilian lawyer at his or her expense.

In all but capital cases, the defendant can choose to have the case heard by a judge alone, or by a judge and not less than five jurors. The jury panel is made up of commissioned officers of higher rank than the accused. If the accused is an enlisted soldier, he or she can choose to have up to one-third of the panel be enlisted soldiers of higher rank.

Rules of evidence are based on those used in federal courts, and like civilian courts, guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

A big difference, however, is that only two-thirds of the jury need agree to convict, unlike the entire panel in a civilian trial. Jury pools also are not randomly drawn as in civilian courts. In the military, the convening authority, typically the base commander, asks his subordinate commanders for a list of potential jurors who are honest, objective and not likely to be deployed or transferred within a year.

Critics claim the process gives commanders too much power to select jurors and is sometimes unfair to enlisted personnel. Military officials insist the process is fair. Once the pool is in place, defense lawyers and prosecutors can seek to disqualify potential jurors they believe will not be objective.

In the case of a conviction, the jury recommends a sentence, which must be approved, or can be reduced, by the convening authority. The defendant can appeal through military appellate courts, and the case can be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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