Article 32 Hearings
In the military, before any allegation can proceed to a General Courts-Martial,
the government’s evidence must be presented to in an article 32
hearing in order to determine whether there are at least reasonable grounds
to forward the charges to GCM. Unlike in many civilian systems, the Article
32 preliminary hearing in the military offers a valuable opportunity for
the military’s accused to test the government’s evidence and
present defense evidence, either to seek a dismissal of the charge before
trial or to better prepare for an upcoming trial, if one is unavoidable.
In this recent case dismissal, the groundwork for much of our defense was
completed at the Article 32 stage, where multiple witnesses were produced
for the defense, sworn affidavits were presented from our initial witness
interviews, the alleged victim was cross-examined for several hours of
testimony on the record, and military character witnesses were called
on behalf of the accused.