Senior Enlisted Military Member Is Granted Court-Martial Clemency

Recently, a senior enlisted military member defended by attorney Richard V. Stevens was granted court-martial clemency for a previous minor court-martial conviction.

Prior to being represented by Mr. Stevens, the client had been convicted in a general court-martial that was partially overturned on appeal. Mr. Stevens and a new military defense counsel represented the client in the re-trial. The overturned portion of the case was an alleged sexual assault. In the re-trial, the client was found not guilty of this sexual assault allegation by the court members (addressed in previous blog post). The minor offense the client had previously been convicted of was not overturned by the appellate court, so that conviction stood. However, the defense team in the re-trial case submitted a court-martial clemency request asking that the conviction and sentence for that minor offense be set-aside.

As you may be aware, clemency in the military justice system has been severely limited by the changes to the system in recent years. However, for minor offenses, clemency can still be requested in the military. In this case, we did request clemency for the previous conviction and sentence, and the clemency request was approved. The conviction and sentence for the remaining minor offense were set-aside.

While this military court-martial and sexual assault case was successfully defended, it is important to understand that every case has different facts, and success in previous cases does not guarantee success in any particular future case. No military lawyer or civilian defense lawyer, including those who specialize in military law, can guarantee the outcome of any military trial or case.

For more information about the military justice system, particularly cases alleging rape and/or sexual assault in violation of UCMJ Article 120, please see our page at https://militaryadvocate.com/military-offenses/sex-crimes/.

We offer free consultations for a case you may be involved in. Just call us.