TRIAL STAGES: Sentence and Punishment: Mandatory

2004

United States v. Lundy, 60 MJ 52  (there are two distinct types of reductions in pay grade applicable to enlisted personnel: (1) an adjudged reduction included in the sentence adjudged by a court-martial under RCM 1003(b)(4); and (2) a mandatory reduction to pay grade E-1, the lowest enlisted pay grade, under Article 58a; like mandatory forfeitures, a mandatory reduction is not part of the sentence; moreover, under Article 58a, each military department may establish a service-specific approach as to whether mandatory reduction in pay grade should be a consequence of a court-martial sentence). 

(adjudged reductions in pay grade take effect on the earlier of: (1) fourteen days after the date on which the sentence is adjudged,  or (2) the date on which the sentence is approved by the convening authority; however, the convening authority has discretion to defer the effective date for all or part of the period leading up to the convening authority’s formal action on the sentence under Article 60(c), UCMJ; mandatory reductions in pay grade, in contrast, do not take effect until the convening authority takes formal action on the sentence).

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