Annual Review of Developments in Instructions—2004

摘要

This annual review of cases addressing instructions to court-martial panel members covers cases decided by the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) during its 2004 term, and a few published cases by the service courts during that same period. These decisions are organized in the order in which instructions are provided to court members during the trial: (1) offenses; (2) defenses; (3) evidentiary instructions; and (4) sentencing. This article is written for military trial practitioners, and it will frequently refer to relevant paragraphs in the Military Judges Benchbook (Benchbook). The Benchbook is the primary resource for drafting instructions, and all military trial practitioners should be intricately familiar with it. During 2004, some cases provided new law or new guidelines for military judges to use when instructing court members. Other cases reiterated the holdings of past cases or the current law. All of the cases, however, reminded judge advocates that military judges must be alert and pay attention to detail because the instructions to the members are important to a fair trial and require careful thought.