Court Opinion

ID: 9836737
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-02 03:14:55.732316+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:45:18.706115
License: Public Domain

EFFRON, Judge
(concurring):
When a judge advocate serves as the assistant to the Staff Judge Advocate (SJA), and his or her duties include acting as the SJA in the absence of that officer, the assistant has been placed in the type of command-staff organizational relationship contemplated by Article 60(d), UCMJ. In that context, even if the assistant SJA was not formally serving as the acting SJA at the time the recommendation was submitted, any error in the preparation of the post-trial recommendation by the assistant SJA would not constitute structural error or otherwise constitute prejudicial plain error. Compare United States v. Finster, 51 MJ 185 (1999) with United States v. Hensley, 52 MJ 391, 394 (2000) (Effron, J., dissenting).