Prather rather not be changed

Yesterday the Navy Office of the Judge Advocate General’s Criminal Law Division recommended that trial counsel continue to request that the military judge give the Benchbook instruction in Article 120(c)(2) cases.  The recommendation stated that CAAF’s decision in Prather “does not change the landscape for Navy prosecutors as drastically as one might expect.”  Code 20 asserted that continuing to request the Benchbook instruction is the recommendation of all five services’ Criminal Law Divisions.

Code 20 also noted that CAAF’s recent decision in Prather gives the Joint Services Committee on Military Justice “more leverage in its attempts to convince Congress to amend Article 120, UCMJ.”

H/T Marcus Fulton on CAAFLog.

Hopefully any suggested change will be to make the statute more constitutional rather than pander to the zealots who aren’t interested in fair trials only convictions any way you can.