United States v. Briscoe

I dissent.

In my opinion, a warrant officer other than a commissioned warrant officer is an enlisted man for purposes of court-martial practice and may, therefore, properly be sentenced to either a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. The provision in the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1951, to the contrary provides a minimum penalty and is beyond the authority of the President. Accordingly, I would hold it void. To demonstrate the reasoning which leads me to this position, I turn to the record before us.

Charged with larceny of a bottle of hot sauce, black pepper, and…