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block 14 in part V on page 2 of the charge sheet. The
referral is executed personally by the CA. It explicitly
details the type of court to which the case is being
referred (SCM, SPCM, GCM) and the specific court
to which the case is being referred.
A court-martial can only hear a case properly
referred to it. The simplest and most accurate way to
describe the correct court is to use the serial number
and date of the order creating that court. Thus, the
referral might read “referred for trial to the summary
court-martial appointed by my summary court- mar-
tial convening order 1-CY dated 17 July 19CY.” This
language precisely identifies a particular kind of
court-martial and the particular SCM to try the case.
In addition, the referral on page 2 of the charge
sheet should show any particular instructions applica-
ble to the case. These instructions could include state-
ments such as confinement is not an authorized
punishment in this case or any other instructions de-
sired by the CA. If no instructions apply to the par-
ticular case, the referral should so indicate by use of
the word None in the appropriate blank. Once the
referral is properly executed, the case is referred to
trial. Send the case file to the proper SCM officer for
further action.
PRETRIAL PREPARATION
After charges are referred to trial by SCM, and all
case materials are sent to the proper SCM officer, he
or she is responsible for preparing the case for trial.
Preliminary Preparation
Upon receipt of the charges and accompanying
papers, the SCM officer begins preparation for trial.
The charge sheet is carefully examined, and all obvi-
ous administrative, clerical, and typographical errors
are corrected. The SCM officer initials each correc-
tion he or she makes on the charge sheet. If there are
so many errors as to require preparation of a new
charge sheet, reswearing of the charges and re-referral
are required. If the SCM officer changes an existing
specification to include any new person, offense, or
matter not fairly included in the original specification,
the new specification must be resworn and re-re-
ferred. The SCM officer continues with his or her
examination of the charge sheet to determine the cor-
rectness and completeness of the information on
pages 1 and 2.
Pretrial Conference With the Accused
After initial review of the court-martial file, the
SCM officer meets with the accused in a pretrial
conference. This section discusses the accused’s right
to counsel later in this chapter. If the accused elects
representation by counsel, all dealings with the ac-
cused are through his or her counsel. Thus, the ac-
cused’s counsel, if any, should be invited to attend the
pretrial conference. At the pretrial conference, the
SCM officer follows the suggested guide found in
appendix 9, MCM, 1984, and documents the fact that
all applicable rights were explained to the accused.
This is done by completing blocks 4 and 5 on the
Record of Trial by Summary Court-Martial, DD Form
2329.
Purpose
The purpose of the pretrial conference is to pro-
vide the accused with information on the nature of the
court-martial, the procedure to be used, and his or her
rights with respect to that procedure. No attempt
should be made by the SCM officer to interrogate the
accused or otherwise discuss the merits of the
charges. The proper time to deal with the merits of the
accusations against the accused is at trial. The SCM
officer provides the accused with a meaningful and
thorough briefing so the accused fully understands the
court-martial process and his or her rights pertaining
to that process.
Advice to Accused—Rights
The SCM officer advises the accused of the fol-
lowing matters:
. The general nature of the charges
. The fact that the charges have been referred to an
SCM for trial and the date of referral
l The identity of the CA
l The name of the accuser
. The name of the witnesses who could be called
to testify and any documents or physical evidence that
the SCM officer expects to introduce into evidence
l The accused’s right to inspect the allied papers
and immediately available personnel records
c That during the trial the SCM officer will not
consider any matters including statements previously
made by the accused to the officer detailed as SCM
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