SGT Jones and CPL Smith left their barracks room Monday morning at 0500 hours. They drove off post to a pawn shop. Per their plan, they broke into the pawn shop and stole approximately $20,000 in jewelry. They took the jewelry to SSG Person's home and stored it in his attic crawl space. They arrived at work at 1000 hours, missing both the 0630 PT formation and the 0900 work formation. The platoon sergeant, SFC Miller, asked CPL Smith why he missed two formations. CPL Smith said he was sick and went to sick call. SFC Miller reminded CPL Smith to let somebody know before he missed formation. That evening, CPL Smith went to a local bar and bragged about having a large amount of jewelry for sale. As he drank, he became loud and obnoxious. CPL Smith started yelling at another patron, and he smashed a glass beer bottle over the other patron's head. CPL Smith fled the bar and went back to his barracks room. A few hours later, the MPs arrived and apprehended CPL Smith. The MPs advised CPL Smith of his right to remain silent. CPL Smith waived his rights and agreed to be interviewed. During the interview, CPL Smith told the MPs he had been sleeping all evening in his room and was not at any bars. He signed a sworn statement stating this.

Now that you have read the fact pattern, use the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) (the UCMJ is in the Manual for Courts-Martial, in your readings) and identify the most serious criminal violations committed by SGT Jones, CPL Smith and SSG Person.

• You should identify 6 - 8 potential violations and then analyze each of the UCMJ offenses.
• If the facts are unclear as to a particular offense, list what additional facts you think that you need in order to make a charging decision.
• Be creative, but ensure each charge is supported by the facts.
• Note: your analysis is the most important part of this week's discussion.
  • Use your critical thinking / legal analytical skills to differentiate among the factual, conceptual and procedural patterns that you may notice in this scenario; tell us about them.
  • Please explain how well you think that your legal research skills helped you to address theses questions. What, if anything, could help?