Section 130.25. Who may serve on courts-martial  


Latest version.
  • (a) Any officer of or on
      duty with the organized militia  shall  be  eligible  to  serve  on  all
      courts-martial  for  the trial of any person who may lawfully be brought
      before such courts for trial.
        (b) Any warrant officer of or on duty with the organized militia shall
      be eligible to serve on general and special courts-martial for the trial
      of any person, other than an officer, who may lawfully be brought before
      such courts for trial.
        (c) (1) Any enlisted person of the organized  militia  who  is  not  a
      member  of  the  same  unit as the accused shall be eligible to serve on
      general and special courts-martial for the trial of any enlisted  person
      who  may  lawfully be brought before such courts for trial, but he shall
      serve as a member of a court only if, before the conclusion of a session
      called by the military judge under subdivision (a) of section 130.39  of
      this chapter prior to trial or, in the absence of such a session, before
      the  court  is  assembled  for  the  trial  of  the accused, the accused
      personally has requested in writing that enlisted persons serve  on  it.
      After  such a request, no enlisted person shall be tried by a general or
      special court-martial the membership of which does not include  enlisted
      persons  in  a  number  comprising  at  least  one-third  of  the  total
      membership of the court, unless  eligible  enlisted  persons  cannot  be
      obtained on account of physical conditions or military exigencies. Where
      such persons cannot be obtained, the court may be convened and the trial
      held  without  them,  but  the convening authority shall make a detailed
      written statement, to be appended to the record, stating why they  could
      not be obtained.
        (2)  For  the  purposes  of this section, the word "unit" shall mean a
      duly organized body of the organized militia not larger than a  company,
      a  squadron, a division of the naval militia, or a body corresponding to
      one of them.
        (d) (1) When it can be avoided, no person subject to this  code  shall
      be tried by a court-martial any member of which is junior to him in rank
      or grade.
        (2)  When  convening  a  court-martial,  the convening authority shall
      appoint as members thereof such persons as, in  his  opinion,  are  best
      qualified   for   the  duty  by  reason  of  age,  education,  training,
      experience, length of service, and judicial temperament. No person shall
      be eligible to sit as a member of a  general  or  special  court-martial
      when  he is the accuser or a witness for the prosecution or has acted as
      investigating officer or as counsel in the  same  case.  If  within  the
      command  of  the  convening authority there is present and not otherwise
      disqualified an officer who is a member of the bar of this state and  of
      appropriate  rank, the convening authority shall appoint such officer as
      president of a special court-martial; provided,  however  that  although
      this requirement shall be binding on the convening authority, failure to
      follow it in any case shall not divest a military court of jurisdiction.