United States v. Samuel

Judge REINING

(concurring in the result):

The case before this court is an example of a dilemma facing convening authorities. Paragraph 85c, Manual for Courts-Martial, 1969, and United States v. Keller, 1 M.J. 159 (C.M.A.1978), require a convening authority to forward a statement that explains why the convening authority took an action that differed from the recommendation of the convening authority’s staff judge advocate. In many cases, the convening authority’s action will be based on a simple disagreement as to what is appropriate in a given case. A convening authority will have a different…