United States v. Murphy

I concur with the majority’s decision that there is no substantial basis in law or fact for questioning Murphy’s guilty plea, including his agreement that the ammunition was an explosive and therefore subject to the sentence aggravator provisions of MCM pt. IV, para. 46.e.(l)(c). I depart from the majority, however, as to the rationale for that conclusion. Due to the ambiguities in the definition of “Explosive” in R.C.M. 801(11), it is not at all clear that 5.56 mm ammunition is an explosive under R.C.M. 103(11). However, I do not believe that holding ammunition to be an explosive is…