U.S. v. Clark, 75 M.J. 298

Military Justice Personnel: Military Judge: Duties and Responsibilities

1. the military judge of a judge alone court-martial shall make a general finding and shall in addition on request find the facts specially

Trial Stages: Merits: Findings

1. the military judge of a judge alone court-martial shall make a general finding and shall in addition on request find the facts specially

Trial Stages: Appeals: Courts of Criminal Appeals › Generally

1. the CCA is empowered, and indeed required, to determine that the findings and sentence are correct in fact as well as law; the CCA may affirm only such findings of guilty and the sentence or such part or amount of the sentence, as it finds correct in law and fact and determines, on the basis of the entire record, should be approved; in considering the record, it may weigh the evidence, judge the credibility of witnesses, and determine controverted questions of fact, recognizing that the trial court saw and heard the witnesses
2. appellate military judges are presumed to know the law and apply it correctly

Trial Stages: Appeals: Courts of Criminal Appeals › Factual sufficiency

1. in this case, where the CCA set aside the findings and sentence on factual sufficiency grounds and dismissed the charges and specifications with prejudice, it did not fail to conduct a complete review under Article 66(c), UCMJ, even though it failed specifically to acknowledge the military judge’s special findings; the special findings of the military judge went virtually entirely to the credibility of witnesses and the weight of the evidence – issues that lie at the core of the function of the trier of fact and the Article 66 factual sufficiency powers of the CCA; in its decision, the CCA noted that the government’s case rested nearly exclusively on the alleged victim’s delayed and partial memories; exercising its prerogative to weigh the evidence and judge the credibility of witnesses, the CCA relied on the lack of physical evidence and the testimony of the defense expert more than that of the government’s expert in describing the circumstances and validity of the alleged victim’s delayed recollection of the events; the CCA explained that, before reaching its judgment, it had reviewed the record of trial and evaluated the arguments by the appellant and the government and made allowances for not having heard or observed the witnesses; the special findings were part of the record of trial; given the nature of the military judge’s special findings, the presumption of regularity that applies to the acts of the appellate military judges, and the CCA’s statement that it applied the statutory prerogatives, the CCA acted within its statutory prerogatives under Article 66(c)

Trial Stages: Appeals: Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces

1. the CAAF is statutorily limited to consideration of questions of law in its review of decisions of the CCAs; in any case reviewed by it, the CAAF may act only with respect to the findings and sentence as approved by the convening authority and as affirmed or set aside as incorrect in law by the CCA; the CAAF shall take action only with respect to matters of law; Congress has limited the CAAF to correction of errors of law and the CAAF’s jurisdiction did not extend to questions of fact; thus, factual determination powers of the CCAs were beyond the CAAF’s review, absent arbitrary or capricious action; however, this does not mean that the statutory powers of the CCAs are wholly insulated from judicial review; issues of legal, as opposed to factual, sufficiency have always been within the remit of the CAAF; and the CAAF has the prerogative of determining on which side of the legal/mixed/factual divide an issue properly falls; the labeling of the issue by the CCA has been understood from the beginning not to be dispositive; finally, the CAAF retains the authority to review factual sufficiency determinations of the CCAs for the application of correct legal principles, but only as to matters of law
2. appellate military judges are presumed to know the law and apply it correctly