How to Prepare for a Court Martial

A court martial is a serious procedure which compels a soldier to face criminal charges for actions he committed while serving the country. There are three different levels of court martial and all of them require adequate preparation.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Find out whether you're facing summary, special or general court martial. Summary is less severe, since you won't be speaking to a judge and cannot be dishonorably discharged as a punishment. Summary hearings also have other restrictions on the punishments they can impose on you.
2. Get a lawyer to help you prepare your case and work with you in court. You do not need to have a military lawyer, but it is essential that your attorney have experience representing soldiers in court martial proceedings.
3. Decide whether you want to have your case voted on by a select panel of soldiers or if you want to leave the decision to the judge. Note that only special and general court martial offer this choice. Summary judgments will be decided by the active duty officer.
4. Set up a meeting with your Judge Advocate General so you'll know what your rights are during a court martial. For example, you can call witnesses and inspect all evidence that will be used against you. In summary court martial, you can prepare a clemency proposal and submit it at the end of your trial to try to influence your sentence.
5. Discuss with your lawyer how you are going to plead in your special or general court martial. Prepare witnesses whose testimony about your good character and performance may mitigate your sentence.
6. Request a pre-trial hearing so that you'll understand the case being brought upon you. This meeting will give the judge or presiding officer the chance to inspect the evidence against you and determine whether it is sufficient for the case to proceed.

Tips & Warnings

• You can deny a summary hearing. However, in some instances it could mean that your case is presented to a more severe court.
• In the days and weeks leading up to your court martial, stay on your best behavior so that there is no chance of other charges or bad marks on your record.
• Depending on the outcome of your trial, you may want to send it to the military's appellate courts for a retrial. The appeal may or may not postpone your sentencing.
• You cannot use a military counsel in a summary proceeding, although you can hire a civilian lawyer.

Who Can Help: