48-2503. (KCMJ Art. 25) Who may serve on courts-martial.
48-2503
48-2503. (KCMJ Art. 25) Who may serve on courts-martial.(a) Any commissioned officer of or on duty with the state militaryforces is eligible to serve on all courts-martial for the trial of anyperson who may lawfully be brought before such courts for trial.
(b) Any warrant officer of or on duty with the state military forces iseligible to serve on general and special courts-martial for the trial of any person,other than a commissioned officer, who may lawfully be brought before suchcourt for trial.
(c) (1) Any enlisted member of the state military forces who is not amember of the same unit as the accused is eligible to serve on generaland special courts-martial for the trial of any enlisted member who may lawfully bebrought before such courts for trial, but such enlistedmember shall serve as a memberof a court only if before the conclusion of a session called by the militaryjudge under K.S.A. 48-2704 and amendments thereto prior to trial or, inthe absence of such asession, before the court is assembled for the trial of the accused, theaccused personally has requested in writing that enlisted members serve onit. After such a request, the accused may not be tried by a generalor special court-martial the membership of which does not include enlisted members ina number comprising at least one-third of the total membership of thecourt, unless eligible enlisted members cannot be obtained on account ofphysical conditions or military exigencies. If such members cannot beobtained, the court may be assembled and the trial held without them, butthe convening authority shall make a detailed written statement, to beappended to the record, stating why they could not be obtained.
(2) In this section, the word "unit" means any regularly organized bodyof the state military forces not larger than a company, a squadron, or abody corresponding to one of them.
(d) (1) No person subject to this code may be tried by a court-martialany member of which is junior to such person in rank or grade, unless itcannot be avoided and then only by order of the governor.
(2) When convening a court-martial, the convening authority shall detailas members of the state military forces thereof such members as, inthe convening authority's opinion, are best qualifiedfor the duty by reason of age, education, training, experience, length ofservice and judicial temperament. No member is eligible to serve as amember of a general or special court-martial when suchmember is the accuser or a witnessfor the prosecution or has acted as investigating officer or as counsel in thesame case.
(e) Before a court-martial is assembled for the trial of a case, theconvening authority may excuse a member of the court from participating inthe case. Under such regulations as the governor may prescribe, theconvening authority may delegate the convening authority's authority under thissubsection to the convening authority's staff judge advocate or to anyother principal assistant.
History: L. 1972, ch. 203, § 48-2503;L. 1988, ch. 191, § 18; July 1.