Military Triers of Fact: A Needless Deprivation of Constitutional Protections

Authors

Gary Michael Heil

Abstract

In Burch . Louisiana and Ballew v. Georgia, the Supreme Court defined the protections guaranteed by the right to jury trial granted by the sikth amendment. The jury size and voting requirements imposed by the constitution, however, have not been extended to criminal prosecutions under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This Comment discusses the reasons given by the military courts for denying these protections to servicemen. The Comment then analyzes the appropriateness of these decisions in light of Supreme Court and military court precedents as well as the way in which military triers of fact are conditioned to perform and the manner in which they are selected for duty. The Comment concludes that, absent extreme circumstances, the accused should not be denied basic constitutional protections such as randomly selected jurors, minimum six-person juries, and unanimous yerdicts.

Recommended Citation

Gary Michael Heil, Military Triers of Fact: A Needless Deprivation of Constitutional Protections, 33 Hastings L.J. 727 (1982).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol33/iss3/7