United States v. Smith

Opinion of the Court

HomeR Ferguson, Judge:

The narrow issue presented in this appeal is whether the convening authority may, in the exercise of his clemency powers, consider matter detrimental to the accused not in evidence without first affording him an opportunity to rebut or explain such matter. In view of *146the accused’s expressed intention to plead guilty, the convening authority had agreed to approve only so much of the sentence imposed by the court-martial as provided for a bad-conduct discharge, total forfeitures, and confinement at hard labor for eighteen months. At trial the accused…