Brief filed: 03/14/2022
Documents
United States v. Pritchard
United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals; Case No. ARMY MISC 20220001
Argument(s)
NACDL, as amicus curiae, submits that Article 52(a)(3), UCMJ, which authorizes non-unanimous verdicts by three-fourths of the voting members in a courtmartial for serious offenses, is unconstitutional on its face. First, military law has long recognized that a military accused has a right to “a fair and impartial panel” which is “a matter of due process” under the Fifth Amendment. United States v. Wiesen, 56 M.J. 172, 174 (CAAF 2001). That is because “[i]mpartial court members are the sine qua non for a fair court-martial.” United States v. Modesto, 43 M.J. 315, 318 (CAAF 1995).
Author(s)
Donald G. Rehkopf, Jr., Law Office of Donald G. Rehkopf, Jr., Rochester, New York; Barbara E. Bergman, NACDL, Tucson, AZ.
