5924.25 Service on courts-martial.
5924.25 Service on courts-martial.
(A) Any commissioned officer of or on duty with the organized militia is eligible to serve on all courts-martial for the trial of any person who may lawfully be brought before such courts for trial.
(B) Any warrant officer of or on duty with the organized militia 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 such courts for trial.
(C)(1) Any enlisted member of the organized militia 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 such courts for trial, but he shall serve as a member of a court only if, before the conclusion of a session called by the military judge under division (A) of section 5924.39 of the Revised Code or, in the absence of such a session, before the court is assembled for the trial of the accused, the accused personally has requested in writing that enlisted members serve on it. After such a 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 such members cannot be obtained, the court may be assembled and 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 division (C) of this section, the word “unit” means any regularly organized body of the organized militia not larger than a company, a squadron, a division of the naval militia, or a body corresponding to one of them.
(D)(1) When it can be avoided, no person subject to this code shall be tried by a court-martial, any member of which is junior to him in rank or grade.
(2) When convening a court-martial, the convening authority shall detail as members thereof such members as, in his opinion, are best qualified for the 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 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 state and of appropriate rank, the convening authority shall appoint him 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.
Effective Date: 07-17-1970