United States v. Burgess

Opinion of the Court

Homer Ferguson, Judge:

During the course of his instructions to the court-martial, relevant to a charge of desertion, in violation of Article 85, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC § 885, the law officer in this case charged the court as follows:

“. . . You are instructed that if a condition of absence without authority is muck prolonged and there is no satisfactory explanation of it, the court would be justified in inferring from that fact alone an intent to *164remain absent permanently.” [Emphasis supplied.]

We discussed this instruction at length in the case of United…