United States v. Mena

MITCHELL, Senior Judge:

Appellant was convicted at a contested bench special court-martial of one count of cocaine use. The case is before this court in the normal course of review. At issue is whether the military judge conducted an adequate inquiry regarding a stipulation of fact used at trial. We hold that the stipulation was confessional and that its proffer should have triggered a more detailed inquiry by the military judge. Rule for Courts-Martial (R.C.M.) 811(c); United States v. Bertelson, 3 M.J. 314 (C.M.A.1977).

In a pretrial agreement, appellant bargained for a sentence limitation in…