Court Opinion

ID: 9836741
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-02 03:14:56.02552+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:45:18.710774
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, Judge
(concurring):
I agree with the majority that appellant, not the Government, has the burden to make “some colorable showing of possible prejudice” resulting from unobjected-to errors in the staff judge advocate recommendation before he is entitled to relief. United States v. Wheelus, 49 MJ 283, 289 (1998). I am somewhat puzzled by the majority’s favorable citation of United States v. Powell, 49 MJ 460, 462 (1998), for this legal point. In Powell, the majority opinion stated the opposite on this point. There, the majority clearly puts the burden on the Government:
Only after appellant met his burden of persuasion did the burden shift to the Government to show that the error was not prejudicial.
49 MJ at 465.
I also agree with the majority that a question of prejudice in a plain error case should be resolved on the basis of the impact of the error on the outcome of the trial or process. United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993); contra United States v. Wilson, 54 MJ at 62. Any suggestion to the contrary in United States v. Powell, supra, should be disregarded as dicta.