United States v. Carter

DECISION

LEWIS, Senior Judge:

Despite his plea of not guilty the appellant was found guilty by a military judge sitting alone of wrongful use of cocaine. His sentence consisted of a bad conduct discharge and reduction to airman basic. Appellate defense counsel have assigned four errors for our consideration. One of these errors, relating to prosecution rebuttal testimony, is meritorious and requires extended discussion.

A brief overview of the essential facts of the case will set the stage for our analysis of this assigned error. The government case was based on a unit inspection whereby the…