Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
In United States v. Morton, ACCA on remand from CAAF found no “dramatic change in the penalty landscape” and affirmed the sentence imposed at trial.
On first review ACCA had set-aside two specifications regarding a falsification of a sick-slip under Article 123, UCMJ. But ACCA then affirmed two specifications thought to be closely related to the dismissed specifications. CAAF dismissed the two specifications and said that:
By dismissing those specifications, our superior court rang the death knell of the “closely-related offense” doctrine. United States v. Morton, 69 M.J. 12, 13 (C.A.A.F. 2010). Also as part of their decision, our superior court returned the record of trial to The Judge Advocate General for remand to this court for sentence reassessment.