Court martial A court martial ( pl . " courts martial " ) referred to a judicial proceeding within a military or quasi - military organization , or the officer ( s ) who sat as a court to conduct the proceeding . Offenses tried before a court martial ranged from insubordination to culpable negligence to violations of Starfleet General Orders . A member of the service who stood accused was presumed innocent until proven guilty , and the service member was entitled to counsel at the preliminary hearing as well as the general court martial . That right could be waived , or the accused could elect to retain counsel . If this initial inquiry determined that a general court martial should be convened , the prosecution was conducted by a Starfleet Judge Advocate General officer . No fewer than three officers of command or flag rank comprised the court . The senior officer of the court martial acted as the President of the Court . This officer controlled the mode and order of presentation of evidence , as well as making evidentiary rulings . Proof was presented through oral testimony and exhibits , including record tape s . The accused had the right to face his accusers , cross - examine witnesses , as well as to testify . After finding of guilt was entered , or if the accused had pleaded guilty , the defendant was allowed to introduce evidence that either mitigated or explained guilt . ( , ) Alternatively , Starfleet could convene a board of inquiry to engage in fact - finding . In the 23rd century , some Starfleet starship s carried a court recorder for the purpose of recording statements , presumably for later use at an official inquiry or court martial . ( ) Michael Burnham . In 2256 , Commander Michael Burnham faced a court martial following the Battle of the Binary Stars as Burnham had disobeyed the orders of Captain Philippa Georgiou while serving as first officer aboard the USS " Shenzhou " . Burnham ' s actions subsequently resulted in the aforementioned battle , the death of Captain Georgiou , the abandonment of the " Shenzhou " and the outbreak of the Federation - Klingon War of 2256 , for which she was stripped of rank and sentenced to life in prison . ( ) Three months into her sentence , at the request of Captain , Burnham was posted to the USS " Discovery " as a science specialist with no official rank in order to assist in the successful activation of the " Discovery " s experimental spore drive propulsion system . ( ) James T . Kirk and Spock . In 2267 , Commodore served as President of the Court in the court martial of Captain James T . Kirk , on Starbase 11 , over the alleged death of his records officer , Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Finney . This marked the first time a Starfleet starship captain stood trial in a court martial . Kirk was cleared of all charges when it was revealed that Finney had actually faked his own death . ( ) Also in 2267 , Lieutenant Commander Spock requested and received an on - board court martial for his actions related to hijacking the and violating General Order 7 . The court consisted of an illusion of Commodore José Mendez , Fleet Captain Christopher Pike , and Spock ' s commanding officer , Captain Kirk . Although Mendez was never actually present , he did receive the images transmitted by the Talosian s , and he ordered that General Order 7 be suspended on that occasion . ( ) In 2269 , Janice Lester , while inhabiting the body of Captain Kirk , charged Commander Spock and " Janice Lester " ( who was actually Kirk ) , with mutiny and convened a summary court martial . The proceedings were bizarre and none of the usual procedures intended to protect the accused ' s rights to due process were in evidence . In fact , the other members of the trial board – Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott and Doctor Leonard McCoy – were similarly charged during the court martial and found guilty of mutiny along with Spock and Kirk . Lester then ordered their immediate execution . Ultimately , it was revealed that Lester had transposed her consciousness with Kirk and the orders of the sham court martial were never enforced . ( ) In 2286 , then - Admiral James T . Kirk and his subordinates expected to face a court martial after stealing the starship " Enterprise " in order to " rescue " Captain Spock . However , after the officers engaged in a successful effort to save Earth from an alien probe , the Federation Council instead tried the accused . The Council summarily dismissed all charges but one ; Kirk alone stood accused of disobeying a direct order of a superior officer . His guilty plea was accepted and for this , Kirk was reduced in rank to captain , assigned to command the newly commissioned . ( ) Jean - Luc Picard . In many cases , the loss of a starship automatically triggered a court martial of the ship ' s commanding officer . In 2355 , the was lost in the Maxia Zeta star system . During his court martial , Captain Jean - Luc Picard was prosecuted by Phillipa Louvois . Picard was cleared of all charges . ( ) Twenty years later , having been captured by the Son ' a while helping the Ba ' ku prevent a forced relocation so the Son ' a could harvest metaphasic radiation in their planet ' s rings , Picard was told by Admiral Dougherty that , should he order the Ba ' ku to surrender , the admiral would make sure he wouldn ' t be court - martialed – to which the captain responded that , if it took a court martial to expose the injustice occurring on Ba ' ku to the people of the Federation , he looked forward to such a hearing . Seconds later , however , a furious Ru ' afo stormed in , thundering that the had destroyed one Son ' a warship and severely damaged another – actions Picard knew Commander Riker would only have taken if the Son ' a had attacked first . Since Picard was aware that Ru ' afo would never have ordered such an attack without approval from Dougherty , he asked the admiral who would be facing a court martial now – though Dougherty was murder ed by Ru ' afo before any action could take place . ( ) Ro Laren . Sometime in the mid - 2360s , Ensign Ro Laren of the was court - martialed after disobeying direct orders on an away mission to Garon II . Her disobedience was alleged to have led to the deaths of eight of her crewmates . Ro refused to speak in her defense , and the court found her guilty . She was imprisoned in a stockade on Jaros II until her release in 2368 . ( ) In 2370 , Picard threatened Ro with a court martial if she failed to follow her orders to lure Maquis members into a trap , but was ultimately unable to take any action following her defection to the Maquis . ( ) Michael Eddington . When the Maquis leader Michael Eddington defected to the Maquis in 2372 , Captain Benjamin Sisko vow ed to track him down and see him court - martialed . After his capture by Sisko and the crew of the the following year , Eddington was indeed court - martialed , convicted , and later imprisoned for treason against the Federation . ( ) Captain of the – which had been attacked by Eddington ' s forces – asked Sisko to save him a seat at Eddington ' s court martial . ( ) Other . " In 2258 of the alternate reality , ordered to explain how he had beamed onto the while it was at warp , under penalty of court martial if he did not . " ( ) In 2367 , Picard threatened Data with a court martial , and probable dismantlement , in order to find out what had happened to the crew of the during a missing day they ' d experienced . ( ) An ensign who injured himself deliberately to avoid having to fight the Klingon s on Ajilon Prime expected that he himself would be court - martialed . ( ) Shortly after B ' Elanna Torres assault ed Joseph Carey in the ' s engineering in early 2371 , Tuvok mentioned to Chakotay that Torres had performed a court - martialable offense . ( ) Later that year , Tuvok said he expected to be court - martialled , upon returning to Federation space , for his part in procuring a Sikarian spatial trajector . ( ) " In an alternate timeline , Captain Janeway ' s refusal to obey The Doctor ' s order for her to be relieved of command would have been met with a court martial . However , Janeway pointed out that , compared to the damage and hardship that " Voyager " had endured over the course of the year , " a court martial would be a small price to pay " and claimed she ' d be " happy to face the music " if they ever made it back to Federation space . " ( ) Humorous references . In 2154 , Commander Charles Tucker III joke d that he would save Lieutenant Reed a seat at his court martial after Reed expressed particular concerns . Reed ' s doubts were about how Admiral Gardner would react to Tucker having informed the Andorian s , as Tucker planned to do , that the Vulcan High Command was planning to invade Andoria . ( ) " In 2155 of the mirror universe , when Commander was caught following an attempted mutiny on the , he asked Captain Maximilian Forrest , " " You going to shoot me now or wait for court martial ? " " " ( ) In 2369 , Major Kira Nerys refused the order of Commander Benjamin Sisko to leave him and Jadzia Dax in a cavern and take the way home . After Sisko repeated that this was an order , Kira simply answered , " " Court martial me . " " Sisko responded that he couldn ' t , as she wasn ' t in Starfleet . ( ) In 2371 , Commander Sisko told Miles O ' Brien that it seemed like Jake Sisko was worried the commander was going to court martial Mardah . ( ) After Benjamin Sisko returned from rescuing Odo and Elim Garak from the Gamma Quadrant , Admiral Toddman sternly told him , " " If you pull a stunt like that again , I ' ll court martial you . . . or promote you . Either way , you ' ll be in a lot of trouble . " " ( ) In 2375 , Janeway commented that there were grounds to court - martial Chakotay after he deliberately left his colleagues in the holodeck , watching an uninteresting presentation by The Doctor , when he ' d been given orders to interrupt by initiating yellow alert at 2100 hours . ( ) In 2375 , after Worf , undergoing " jak ' tahla " due to the metaphasic radiation from the Ba ' ku planet below ( which the " Enterprise " crew was not yet aware of ) , overslept into his duty shift at tactical , Picard paged Worf to wake him up and mentioned , during their discussion , that they would " skip the court martial this time . " ( )