Sec. 27-167. Military judge of general or special court-martial.
Sec. 27-167. Military judge of general or special court-martial. (a) The Adjutant General or his designee shall appoint each military judge. A military judge shall
be detailed to each general court-martial. Subject to regulations of the Adjutant General,
a military judge may be detailed to any special court-martial. The Adjutant General
shall prescribe regulations providing for the manner in which military judges are detailed
for such courts-martial and for the persons who are authorized to detail military judges
for such courts-martial. The military judge shall preside over each open session of the
court-martial to which he has been detailed.
(b) Unless the court-martial was convened by the Governor or the Adjutant General,
neither the convening authority nor any member of his staff shall prepare or review
any report concerning the effectiveness, fitness, or efficiency of the military judge so
detailed, which relates to his performance of duty as a military judge.
(c) No person shall act as military judge in a case if he is the accuser or a witness
for the prosecution or has acted as investigating officer or as counsel in the same case.
(d) The military judge shall not consult with the members of the court, other than
on the form of the findings as provided in section 27-181, except in the presence of the
accused, trial counsel, and defense counsel, nor shall he vote with the members of the
court.
(1967, P.A. 717, S. 27; P.A. 77-295, S. 2; P.A. 89-221, S. 5.)
History: P.A. 77-295 substituted "appoint" for "detail" and "military judge" for "law officer" where appearing; P.A.
89-221 amended Subsec. (a) to replace provision requiring the authority convening a general court martial to appoint as
military judge thereof a commissioned officer and specifying the qualifications of such officer with provisions re the
appointment of military judges, the detailing of military judges to general and special courts-martial and the presiding of
military judges over open sessions of courts-martial, added a new Subsec. (b) re the preparation and review of a report re
the effectiveness, fitness or efficiency of the military judge, designated the last sentence of Subsec. (a) as Subsec. (c) and
replaced "law officer" with "military judge", and redesignated Subsec. (b) as Subsec. (d).