United States v. BeLarge

The requirement of paragraph 83a, Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1951, has been applied in a manner that permits brief unrecorded conferences between the law officer and counsel if these conferences are designated as “side-bar” or “bench” conferences. In United States v Ransom, 4 USCMA 195, 203, 15 CMR 195, this Court declared:

*93“A conference of this nature is entirely unlike an unrecorded conference between the law officer and the court, out of the presence of the accused. United States v Miller, 2 USCMA 272, 8 CMR 72. Neither does it in any way destroy the completeness of the…