United States v. Adams

I dissent. Appellant was advised that the maximum allowable punishment included confinement at hard labor for ten years and pleaded guilty in exchange for a pretrial agreement which restricted the maximum confinement to one year. In light of United States v. Smith, supra, and United States v. Courtney, supra, this Court has determined that the maximum legal confinement authorized was two years rather than the ten years the military judge and the accused believed to be imposable. The majority find that appellant’s pleas of guilty were provident, his misunderstanding as to the maximum period of…