United States v. Whitfield

The appellant was convicted by a general court-martial with members of attempting with premeditation to murder a fellow soldier. The adjudged and approved sentence includes a dishonorable discharge, confinement at hard labor for ten years. In a memorandum of opinion dated 11 December 1978, Judge Dribben and I, the only judges participating, decided that premeditation is not an element of the offense of attempted murder and should not have been alleged. We determined that the charge gave the government counsel an impermissible advantage in argument on findings and sentence. We affirmed the…