United States v. Yearty

Opinion of the Court

ROBERT E. Quinn, Chief Judge:

At his trial by special court-martial for larceny, in violation of Article 121, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC § 921, the accused objected to the admission in evidence of his pretrial confession on the ground that it was obtained by coercion and threats. After testimony on the issue was- taken, his objection was overruled. However, the court members were not instructed that they could consider the question of the voluntariness of the confession in their deliberations on the findings.

On review, a divided board of review concluded it…