(a)  Any commissioned officer of or on duty with the state military forces is eligible to serve on all courts-martial for the trial of any person who may lawfully be brought before these courts for trial.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 30-13-27

  • Accuser: means a person who signs and swears to charges, any person who directs that charges nominally be signed and sworn to by another, and any person who has an interest, other than an official interest, in the prosecution of the accused;
    (2) "Active state duty" means full-time duty in the active military service of the state under an order of the governor issued under authority vested in the governor by law, and includes travel to and from that duty;
    (3) "Code" means this chapter;
    (4) "Commanding officer" includes only commissioned officers;
    (5) "Commissioned officer" includes a commissioned warrant officer;
    (6) "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;
    (7) "Duty status other than active state duty" means any type of required duty other than that set forth in subdivision (2) of this section and includes travel to and from that duty;
    (8) "Enlisted member" means a person in an enlisted grade;
    (9) "Grade" means a step or degree, in a graduated scale of office or military rank, that is established and designed as a grade by law or regulation;
    (10) Law officer" means an official of a general court-martial detailed in accordance with § 30-13-28
    (11) "Law specialist" means a commissioned officer of the organized naval militia of the state designated for special duty (law);
    (12) "Legal officer" means any commissioned officer of the organized naval militia of the state designated to perform legal duties for a command;
    (13) "May" is used in a permissive sense. See Rhode Island General Laws 30-13-1
  • in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
  • 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.
  • Military: refers to any or all of the armed forces;
    (15) "Military court" means a court-martial, a court of inquiry, or a provost court;
    (16) "Officer" means commissioned or warrant officer;
    (17) "Rank" means the order of precedence among members of the state military forces;
    (18) "Shall" is used in an imperative sense;
    (19) "State judge advocate" means the commissioned officer on the staff of the adjutant general responsible for supervising military justice in the state military forces;
    (20) "State military forces" means the national guard of the state, as defined in 32 U. See Rhode Island General Laws 30-13-1
  • Military court: means a court-martial, a court of inquiry, or a provost court;
    (16) "Officer" means commissioned or warrant officer;
    (17) "Rank" means the order of precedence among members of the state military forces;
    (18) "Shall" is used in an imperative sense;
    (19) "State judge advocate" means the commissioned officer on the staff of the adjutant general responsible for supervising military justice in the state military forces;
    (20) "State military forces" means the national guard of the state, as defined in 32 U. See Rhode Island General Laws 30-13-1
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.

(b)  Any warrant officer of, or on duty with, the state military forces is eligible to serve on general and special courts-martial for the trial of any person, other than a commissioned officer, who may lawfully be brought before these courts for trial.

(c)(1)  Any enlisted member of the state military forces who is not a member of the same unit as the accused is eligible to serve on general and special courts-martial for the trial of any enlisted member who may lawfully be brought before these courts for trial, but the enlisted member shall serve as a member of a court only if, before the convening of the court, the accused personally has requested, in writing, that enlisted members serve on it. After that request, the accused may not be tried by a general or special court-martial the membership of which does not include enlisted members in a number comprising at least one-third (?) of the total membership of the court, unless eligible members cannot be obtained on account of physical conditions or military exigencies. If these members 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)  In this subsection, the word “unit” means any regularly organized body of the state military forces not larger than a company, a squadron, or a division of the naval militia, or a body corresponding to one of them.

(d)  When it can be avoided, no person subject to this code may be tried by a court-martial any member of which is junior to that person in rank or grade.

(e)  When convening a court-martial, the convening authority shall detail as members thereof such members as, in his or her opinion, are best qualified for duty by reason of age, education, training, experience, length of service, and judicial temperament. No member is eligible to serve as a member of a general or special court-martial when he or she 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 a commissioned officer who is a member of the bar of the supreme court of the state and of appropriate rank and grade, the convening authority shall appoint that officer as president of a special court-martial. Although this requirement is binding on the convening authority, failure to meet it in any case does not divest a military court of jurisdiction.

History of Section.
G.L. 1956, § 30-13-27; P.L. 1962, ch. 82, § 1.