United States v. Swift

Appellant was a soldier with two wives, one of whom was bombarding his command with complaints about his suspected bigamy. His first sergeant (1st Sgt) had good reason to suspect these complaints were true when he called appellant into his office to hear “his side of the story.” Unfortunately, he did not advise appellant of his rights under Article 31 with respect to this suspected criminal offense. This failure to warn was wrong as both the majority and I agree. See generally United States v. Good, 32 MJ 105,108 (CMA 1991) (and case cited therein).1

Nevertheless, the 1ST Sgt (in pursuing his…