United States v. Shropshire

Opinion of the Court

Dakden, Judge:

“I have more muscle in my little finger than you have in your whole body and if you take this restraining gear off, I’ll show you what I will do to you.” These words form the basis of one specification of a threat that a special court-martial found the appellant guilty of. Our review is to determine whether the quoted words constitute an offense.

A special court-martial composed of a military judge alone found the appellant guilty of five different specifications alleging failure to obey a lawful order, disrespect to a superior petty officer, communicating…