2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FIVE - Internal Security (§§ 1 — 3356) › Subtitle 2 - Military Matters (§§ 2001 — 3051s) › PART I - Military Code of Puerto Rico (§§ 2001 — 2929) › Chapter 207 - Military Justice (§§ 2301 — 2788) › Subchapter V - Appointment and Composition of Courts-Martial (§§ 2501 — 2508) › § 2504 - Who may serve on courts-martial

(a) Any commissioned officer of or on duty with the Military Forces of Puerto Rico is eligible to serve on all courts-martial for the trial of any person who may lawfully be brought before such courts for trial.
(b) Any warrant officer of or on duty with the Military Forces of Puerto Rico is eligible to serve on general and special courts-martial for the trial of any person, other than a commissioned officer, who may lawfully be brought before such courts for trial.
(c)
(1) Any enlisted member of the Military Forces of Puerto Rico who is not a member of the same unit as the accused is eligible to serve on general and special courts-martial for the trial of any enlisted member who may lawfully be brought before such courts for trial; but he shall serve as a member of a court only if, prior to the termination of the session of a court convened by the law officer before holding the trial under § 2604 of this title, or in absence of such session, before the convening of the court for the trial, the accused personally has requested in writing that enlisted members serve therein.
After such request, the accused may not be tried by a general or special court-martial, save in the case where one-third (⅓) of its components are enlisted members, unless eligible members cannot be obtained on account of physical conditions or military exigencies. If such members cannot be obtained, the court may be convened and the trial held without them, but the convening authority shall make a detailed written statement, to be appended to the record, stating why they could not be obtained.
(2) In this section the word “unit” means any regularly organized body of the Military Forces of Puerto Rico not larger than a company or squadron.
(d) When it can be avoided, no person subject to this Code may be tried by a court-martial having any member which [sic] is junior to him in rank or grade.
(e) When convening a court-martial, the convening authority shall detail as members thereof such members as, in his opinion, are best qualified for the duty by reason of age, education, training, experience, length of service, and judicial temperament. No member is eligible to serve as a member of a general or special court-martial when he is the accuser or a witness for the prosecution or has acted as investigating officer or as counsel in the same case.
When convening a special court-martial and no law officer has been detailed thereto, if within the command of the convening authority there is present and not otherwise disqualified a commissioned officer who is a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico or of a federal court and of appropriate rank and grade, the convening authority shall appoint him as president of said special court-martial. Although this requirement is binding on the convening authority, failure to meet it in any case does not divest a military court of jurisdiction.
History —June 23, 1969, No. 62, p. 117, § 811, eff. 90 days after June 23, 1969.