§876b Art. 76b. Lack of Mental Capacity or Mental Responsibility: Commitment of Accused for Examination and Treatment

Summary

If a service member cannot understand or take part in their court-martial because of a mental illness, the military must send them into the custody of the Attorney General for evaluation and treatment under federal rules in 18 U.S.C. 4241(d). The hospital must follow those rules and, if the person is still not fit to stand trial after the allowed hospitalization, the hospital and authorities must follow 18 U.S.C. 4246. If the hospital director decides the person is fit again, the director must tell the Attorney General, the convening authority who started the court-martial, and the person’s lawyer. The director can hold the person no more than 30 days after giving that notice. When other federal rules refer to the court that ordered commitment, they usually mean the convening authority; if the person is no longer under military jurisdiction, the U.S. district court where the person is held is treated as the committing court. If a court-martial finds someone not guilty only because of lack of mental responsibility, the person must be committed to a suitable facility until they can be released under this section. The court-martial must hold the mental-condition hearing required by 18 U.S.C. 4243, and must send the hearing report to the convening authority. If the court-martial cannot find that release would be safe, the convening authority may commit the person to the Attorney General and the Attorney General must act under 18 U.S.C. 4243(e); related parts of 4243 (f, g, h) also apply, with the local U.S. district court treated as the committing court when needed. Rules in 18 U.S.C. 4247 apply too, except the reference to 3006A does not. If the person’s military status under section 802 ends while they are in Attorney General custody, hospitalized, or on conditional medical release, the procedures for people no longer under military jurisdiction continue to apply.