Automatic appellate review by the service’s Court of Criminal Appeals is triggered under Article 66 of the UCMJ by the severity of the sentence adjudged at a court-martial. Any court-martial conviction that includes a sentence of a punitive discharge (either a Bad Conduct Discharge or a Dishonorable Discharge), confinement for one year or more, or death, is automatically appealed. The service member does not need to request this appeal; it is a mandatory legal requirement designed as a powerful safeguard against unjust convictions and sentences.
This automatic review is a comprehensive process. A new, specialized military appellate defense attorney is assigned to the case. They will conduct a “top-to-bottom” review of the entire record of trial, which includes a verbatim transcript of the proceedings and all the evidence that was presented. The attorney will search for any and all potential legal errors that may have occurred, from pretrial motions and evidentiary rulings to the findings and the sentence.
The appellate court has broad authority. It will review the case for legal error, factual sufficiency (is the evidence sufficient to support the finding of guilt?), and sentence appropriateness. The court can set aside the conviction, order a new trial, reduce the sentence, or affirm the findings and sentence. This mandatory, automatic appellate review for all serious court-martial convictions is one of the most significant due process protections in the entire military justice system, ensuring that no soldier is severely punished without at least one level of independent judicial oversight.