Connecticut General Statutes 27-207 – Review by Governor or Judge Advocate
(a) If the convening authority is the Governor, his action on the review of any record of trial is final.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 27-207
- Acquittal:
- Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
- A verdict of "not guilty."
- Convening authority: includes , in addition to the person who convened the court, a commissioned officer commanding for the time being, or a successor in command. See Connecticut General Statutes 27-141
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Law specialist: means a commissioned officer of the organized naval militia of the state designated for special law duty. See Connecticut General Statutes 27-141
- Legal officer: means any commissioned officer of the organized militia of the state designated to perform legal duties for a command. See Connecticut General Statutes 27-141
- Military: refers to any or all of the armed forces. See Connecticut General Statutes 27-141
- Officer: means commissioned or warrant officer. See Connecticut General Statutes 27-141
- State Judge Advocate: means the commissioned officer responsible for supervising the administration of the military justice in the state military forces. See Connecticut General Statutes 27-141
- State military forces: means the National Guard of the state, as defined in Section 101(3) of Title 32, United States Code, the organized naval militia of the state, and any other military force organized under the laws of the state and shall include the organized militia as defined in §. See Connecticut General Statutes 27-141
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(b) In all other cases not covered by subsection (a) of this section, if the sentence of a special court-martial as approved by the convening authority includes a bad-conduct discharge, whether or not suspended, the entire record shall be sent to the appropriate staff judge advocate or legal officer of the state force concerned to be reviewed in the same manner as a record of trial by general court-martial. The record and the opinion of the staff judge advocate or legal officer shall then be sent to the State Judge Advocate for review.
(c) All other special and summary court-martial records shall be sent to the law specialist or legal officer of the appropriate force of the state military forces and shall be acted upon, transmitted and disposed of as may be prescribed by regulation of the Governor.
(d) The State Judge Advocate shall review the record of trial in each case sent to him or her for review as provided under subsection (b) of this section. If the final action of the court-martial has resulted in an acquittal of all charges and specifications, the opinion of the State Judge Advocate is limited to questions of jurisdiction.
(e) The State Judge Advocate shall take final action in any case reviewable by him.
(f) In a case reviewable by the State Judge Advocate under this section, the State Judge Advocate may act only with respect to the findings and sentence as approved by the convening authority. He may affirm only such findings of guilty, and the sentence or such part or amount of the sentence, as he finds correct in law and fact and determines, on the basis of the entire record, should be approved. In considering the record, he 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. If the State Judge Advocate sets aside the findings and sentence, he may, except where the setting aside is based on lack of sufficient evidence in the record to support the findings, order a rehearing. If he sets aside the findings and sentence and does not order a rehearing, he shall order that the charges be dismissed.
(g) In a case reviewable by the State Judge Advocate under this section, he shall instruct the convening authority to act in accordance with his decision on the review. If he has ordered a rehearing but the convening authority finds a rehearing impracticable, he may dismiss the charges.
(h) The State Judge Advocate may order one or more boards of review each composed of not less than three commissioned officers of the state military forces, each of whom must be a member of the bar of the highest court of the state. Each board of review shall review the record of any trial by special court-martial, including a sentence to bad-conduct discharge, referred to it by the State Judge Advocate. Boards of review have the same authority on review as the State Judge Advocate has under this section.