FEBRUARY 2025 | 17 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff. require a three-fourths vote among panel members, and all other sentences require a two-thirds vote.69 In addition, unlike a civilian state or federal court jury, a “hung jury,” a panel that cannot reach a verdict, is not allowed. While court-martial panel members are usually made up of different ranks, the use of superior rank in the deliberation room as a means of pressure on another panel member is prohibited. Also, a quorum can be declared with as few as five members sitting for a GCM. GUILTY PLEAS AND SENTENCING In the military, a guilty plea by an accused is far more involved than guilty plea practices in civilian courts. While the U.S. Supreme Court has held that a defendant may constitutionally plead to enter an “Alford plea,”70 and most civilian courts also allow a plea of “nolo contendere” (no contest), a military accused can only enter a plea of either “not guilty” or “guilty.” Before a judge can find an accused guilty, they must go through a lengthy and in-depth “providence inquiry” that may last several hours as a part of allocution to ensure the accused is factually guilty and that there are no possible defenses.71 As with the federal system, and most state systems other than Oklahoma, an accused military member, except in the matter of capital cases, will be sentenced by a military judge in all special and general courts-martial.72 At sentencing, the trial court holds an open and extended sentencing hearing rather than relying on a written presentence report. This extended hearing plays a part in the unique aspect of the military justice system of how the pretrial agreement (the deal) between the government and the accused is handled. First, the “deal” itself is sealed and not revealed initially to the judge and places a “cap” on the sentence that can be imposed by the judge.73 In other words, a sentencing hearing becomes a game of “beat the deal” by defense counsel. If the trial judge imposes a lesser sentence than what was agreed upon in the pretrial agreement, the accused gets the benefit of that lesser sentence. If the military judge imposes a more severe sentence than what is contained in the pretrial agreement, then the sentence is limited to what was agreed upon. APPEALS AND POSTCONVICTION REMEDIES Another benefit enjoyed by the military accused is the multiple “bites at the apple” in appellate rights. If an accused is convicted, the Rules for Court-Martial once again provide free military counsel on appeal regardless of indigence.74 Counsel on appeal is a different individual than the military counsel at trial, thus serving as a check on the effectiveness of the counsel at the trial level. Unlike civilian courts, the military appellate courts have
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