United States v. Chiles

I dissent.

I am unable to agree with the majority’s opinion that the appellant was prejudiced by the failure of the staff judge advocate to adequately summarize the factual evidence under the circumstances of this case.

Here, the staff judge advocate omitted a summary of Private McGraw’s testimony concerning a statement made to him by Private Rettenmaier regarding a previous conversation that Rettenmaier had with the appellant to the effect that he would “drop the charges” against the appellant if he was paid $50.00. This evidence affected the credibility of Private Rettenmaier’s testimony as…