§824a Art. 24a. Special Trial Counsel

Summary

Each military service must make rules for assigning commissioned officers to serve as special trial counsel. A special trial counsel must be a judge advocate who meets the qualification in section 806(a)(1) and is certified as fit for the job by the Judge Advocate General of their service (or, for the Marine Corps, by the Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant). A lead special trial counsel must be at least grade O–7. Special trial counsel must perform the duties in this chapter and any other duties the Secretary gives by rule. They alone decide if a reported crime is a "covered offense" and may also take charge of crimes they find are related or committed by the same person. They alone may withdraw or dismiss charges, refer charges for trial by special or general court-martial, make plea deals, and decide if a rehearing is impractical. Their decision to refer charges for trial is binding on the convening authority. If a special trial counsel chooses not to prefer or refer charges, a commander or convening authority may act instead, except they may not refer charges for a covered offense to special or general court-martial. At their sole discretion, a special trial counsel may also take authority over certain older or specific offenses. This includes offenses under articles 117a, 118, 119, 119a, 120, 120a, 120b, 120c, 128b, and the standalone child pornography offense under article 134 that occurred on or before December 27, 2023; offenses under articles 125, 130, or 132 that occurred on or after January 1, 2019 and before December 28, 2023; and offenses under article 120a, article 125 alleging nonconsensual sodomy, or the standalone kidnapping offense under article 134 that occurred before January 1, 2019. Conspiracy (article 81), solicitation (article 82), and attempt (article 80) to commit those offenses are included. After January 1, 2025, they may also, at their sole discretion, take authority over the standalone sexual harassment offense under article 134 when it occurred after January 26, 2022 and on or before January 1, 2025 and a formal complaint was substantiated under the service’s rules, plus related conspiracy, solicitation, and attempt charges. If they do take such an offense, it is treated as a covered offense and they may handle related offenses regardless of the dates those other offenses occurred.