Title 30, Title 30 Affairs and Defense

(a) In the state military forces not in federal service, the commanding officer of a garrison, fort, post, camp, air base, auxiliary air base, or other place where troops are on duty, or of a regiment, wing, group, detached battalion, detached squadron, or other detachment of not…

(a) Any commissioned officer of or on duty with the state military forces is eligible to serve on all courts-martial for the trial of any person who may lawfully be brought before these courts for trial. (b) Any warrant officer of, or on duty with, the state military forces is el…

(a) The authority convening a general court-martial shall detail as the law officer thereof a commissioned officer who is a member of the bar of the supreme court of the state, or a member of the bar of a federal court, and who is certified to be qualified for that duty by the st…

(a) For each general and special court-martial, the authority convening the court shall detail trial counsel and defense counsel, and such assistants as he or she considers appropriate. No person who has acted as investigating officer, law officer, or court member in any case may…

(a) Each person discharged from the state military forces who is later charged with having fraudulently obtained his or her discharge is, subject to § 30-13-46, subject to trial by court-martial on that charge and is, after apprehension, subject to this code while in the custody …

Under such regulations as the governor may prescribe, the convening authority of a general or special court-martial or court of inquiry shall detail or employ qualified court reporters, who shall record the proceedings of and testimony taken before that court. Under like regulati…

(a) No member of a general or special court-martial may be absent or excused after the accused has been arraigned except for physical disability or as the result of a challenge or by order of the convening authority for good cause. (b) Whenever a general court-martial is reduced …

(a) Charges and specifications shall be signed by a person subject to this code, under oath before a person authorized by this code to administer oaths, and shall state: (1) That the signer has personal knowledge of, or has investigated, the matters set forth therein; and (2) Tha…

(a) No person subject to this code may compel any person to incriminate himself or herself or to answer any question the answer to which may tend to incriminate him or her. (b) No person subject to this code may interrogate, or request any statement from, an accused or a person s…

(a) No charge or specification may be referred to a general court-martial for trial until a thorough and impartial investigation of all the matters set forth therein has been made. This investigation shall include inquiry as to the truth of the matter set forth in the charges, co…

When a person is held for trial by general court-martial, the commanding officer shall, within eight (8) days after the accused is ordered into arrest or confinement, if practicable, forward the charges, together with the investigation and allied papers, to the governor. If that …

(a) Before directing the trial of any charge by general court-martial, the convening authority shall refer it to the state judge advocate for consideration and advice. The convening authority may not refer a charge to a general court-martial for trial unless he or she has found t…

The trial counsel to whom court-martial charges are referred for trial shall cause to be served upon the accused a copy of the charges upon which trial is to be had. In time of peace, no person may, against his or her objection, be brought to trial before a general court-martial …

When an accused person shall have been arrested for failure to appear before a court-martial for trial, the president of the court-martial or summary court officer to whom the charges have been referred for trial may issue a commitment for the confinement of that person pending t…

The procedure, including modes of proof, in cases before military courts and other military tribunals may be prescribed by the governor by regulations, which shall, so far as he or she considers practicable, apply the principles of law and the rules of evidence generally recogniz…

(a) If any commissioned officer, dismissed by order of the governor, makes a written application for trial by court-martial, setting forth, under oath, that he or she has been wrongfully dismissed, the governor, as soon as practicable, shall convene a general court-martial to try…

No authority convening a general, special, or summary court-martial nor any other commanding officer, or officer serving on the staff thereof, may censure, reprimand, or admonish the court or any member, law officer, or counsel thereof, with respect to the findings or sentence ad…

(a) The trial counsel of a general or special court-martial shall prosecute in the name of the state, and shall, under the direction of the court, prepare the record of the proceedings. (b) The accused has the right to be represented in his or her defense before a general or spec…

Whenever a general or special court-martial deliberates or votes, only the members of the court may be present. After a general court-martial has finally voted on the findings, the court may request the law officer and the reporter to appear before the court to put the findings i…

A court-martial may, for reasonable cause, grant a continuance to any party for such time, and as often, as may appear to be just.

(a) Members of a general or special court-martial and the law officer of a general court-martial, may be challenged by the accused or the trial counsel for cause stated to the court. The court shall determine the relevancy and validity of challenges for cause, but may not receive…

(a) The law officer, interpreters, and, in general and special courts-martial, members, trial counsel, assistant trial counsel, defense counsel, assistant defense counsel, and reporters shall take an oath or affirmation in the presence of the accused to perform their duties faith…

(a) A person charged with desertion or absence without leave in time of war, or with aiding the enemy or mutiny, may be tried and punished at any time without limitation. (b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person charged with desertion in time of peace or with th…

(a) No person may, without his or her consent, be tried a second time in any military court of the state for the same offense. (b) No proceeding in which an accused has been found guilty by a court-martial upon any charge or specification is a “trial” in the sense of this section…

If an accused arraigned before a court-martial makes an irregular pleading; or after a plea of guilty sets up matters inconsistent with the plea; or if it appears that the accused has entered the plea of guilty improvidently or through lack of understanding of its meaning and eff…

(a) The trial counsel, the defense counsel, and the court-martial shall have equal opportunity to obtain witnesses and other evidence in accordance with such regulations as the governor may prescribe. (b) The president of a court-martial or a summary court officer may: (1) Issue …

(a) This code applies throughout the state. It also applies to all persons otherwise subject to this code while they are serving outside the state, and while they are going to, and returning from, service outside the state, in the same manner, and to the same extent, as if they w…

Any person not subject to this code who: (1) Has been duly subpoenaed to appear as a witness or to produce books and records before a military court or before any military or civil officer designated to take a deposition to be read in evidence before a military court; (2) Has bee…

A military court may punish for contempt any person who uses any menacing word, sign, or gesture in its presence, or who disturbs its proceedings by any riot or disorder. The punishment may not exceed confinement for thirty (30) days or a fine of one hundred dollars ($100), or bo…

(a) At any time after charges have been signed, as provided in § 30-13-32, any party may take oral or written depositions unless an authority competent to convene a court-martial for the trial of those charges forbids it for good cause. If a deposition is to be taken before charg…

(a) In any case not extending to the dismissal of a commissioned officer, the sworn testimony, contained in the duly authenticated record of proceedings of a court of inquiry, of a person whose oral testimony cannot be obtained may, if otherwise admissible under the rules of evid…

(a) Voting by members of a general or special court-martial upon questions of challenge, on the findings, and on the sentence shall be by secret written ballot, provided that, upon questions of challenge, the challenged member shall not be entitled to vote. The junior member of t…

(a) No person may be convicted of an offense, except by concurrence of two-thirds (⅔) of the members present at the time the vote is taken. (b) All sentences shall be determined by the concurrence of two-thirds (⅔) of the members present at the time that the vote is taken. (c) Al…

A court-martial shall announce its findings and sentence to the parties as soon as determined.

(a) Each court-martial shall keep a separate record of the proceedings of the trial of each case brought before it and the record shall be authenticated by the signatures of the president and the law officer. If the record cannot be authenticated by either the president or the la…

Punishment by flogging, or by branding, marking, or tattooing on the body, or any other cruel or unusual punishment, may not be adjudged by any court-martial or inflicted upon any person subject to this code. The use of irons, single or double, except for the purpose of safe cust…

The punishment which a court-martial may direct for an offense may not exceed the limits prescribed by this code.

(a) The governor, on the recommendation of the adjutant general, shall appoint an officer of the state military forces as state judge advocate. To be eligible for appointment, an officer must be a member of the bar of the highest court of the state and must have been a member of …

(a) Whenever a sentence of a court-martial lawfully adjudged and approved includes a forfeiture of pay or allowances in addition to confinement not suspended, the forfeiture may apply to pay or allowances becoming due on or after the date the sentence is approved by the convening…

(a) A sentence of confinement adjudged by a military court, whether or not the sentence includes discharge or dismissal and whether or not the discharge or dismissal has been executed, may be carried into execution by confinement in any place of confinement under the control of a…

Except as provided in §§ 30-13-22 and 30-13-68, a court-martial sentence, unless suspended, may be ordered executed by the convening authority when approved by him or her and his or her staff judge advocate or, in the absence of a staff judge advocate on the staff of the convenin…

After a trial by court-martial, the record shall be forwarded to the convening authority, as reviewing authority, and action thereon may be taken by the person who convened the court, a commissioned officer commanding for the time being, a successor in command, or the governor.

The convening authority shall refer the record of each court-martial to the staff judge advocate or, in the absence of a staff judge advocate on the staff of the convening authority, to the staff judge advocate of the next higher command, who shall submit his or her written opini…

(a) If a specification before a court-martial has been dismissed on motion and the ruling does not amount to a finding of not guilty, the convening authority may return the record to the court for reconsideration of the ruling and any further appropriate action. (b) Where there i…

(a) If the convening authority disapproves the findings and sentence of a court-martial, he or she may, except where there is lack of sufficient evidence in the record to support the findings, order a rehearing. In that case, the convening authority shall state the reasons for di…

In acting on the findings and sentence of a court-martial, the convening authority may approve only such findings of guilty, and the sentence or such a part or amount of the sentence, as he or she finds correct in law and fact and as he or she in his or her discretion determines …