Summary court martial

[Charles Dresser]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

I read somewhere that the summary court-martial is no longer considered to be a federal offense, provided that the defendant was not represented by legal counsel. The USPostal Service apparently adopted that posture.
Is this because the old Article 15 has been toughened up in the past 50 years, thus kind of replacing what the SCM used to be?

[SHORTY LONG]

Originally Posted by Charles Dresser

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

I read somewhere that the summary court-martial is no longer considered to be a federal offense, provided that the defendant was not represented by legal counsel. The USPostal Service apparently adopted that posture.
Is this because the old Article 15 has been toughened up in the past 50 years, thus kind of replacing what the SCM used to be?

A summary Court Martial is not a felony conviction period! There is nothing in
the military to equate a Court Martial to a felony or misdemeanor conviction.

The federal courts look at length of sentence to determine if a Court Martial
in a felony or misdemeanor. If the conviction could result in a sentence of 1-
year or more in a penitentiary, then it is considered a felony conviction.

Since the maximum punishment possible in a summary Court Martial in 1-
month confinement, this is clearly a misdemeanor. In addition, a special Court
Martial prior to 2002 could only result in a maximum confinement period of 6-
months, this too would be a misdemeanor conviction. The following Supreme
Court ruling tells it all.

NOTE: Although action by summary courts-martial is disciplinary in nature for
a violation of military law, the Supreme Court has ruled that a summary court-
martial is not a criminal proceeding (Middendorf v. Henry, 425 U.S.25).