United States v. Betts

Opinion of the Court

George W. Latimer, Judge:

A general court-martial convicted the accused of attempted sodomy, in violation of Article 80, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC § 880. It sentenced him to a bad-conduct discharge and reduction to the grade of seaman recruit. Intermediate reviewing authorities affirmed the findings and sentence, and we granted his petition for review to determine whether or not the action of the convening authority in affirming the findings and sentence was taken under the mistaken belief that his discretion was controlled by the provisions of a certain…