United States v. Cross

I dissent from my brothers’ endorsement of the terms of the pretrial agreement in this case and from their affirmation of the sentence.

The provision of the pretrial agreement which gives rise to our disagreement reads as follows:

[I]n the event no punitive discharge is adjudged, [the convening authority] may approve the entire sentence as adjudged.

My brothers rely on United States v. Castleberry, 18 M.J. 826 (ACMR 1984); and United States v. Holmes, 17 M.J. 830 (ACMR), pet. denied, 18 M.J. 438 (CMA 1984), for the validity of this provision. I find neither case persuasive.

Holmes approved a…