WASHINGTON — When Spc. Jeremy Sivits faces a public court-martial in a Baghdad convention center Wednesday, Americans will get the kind of look into the military justice system they haven't had since Army Lt. William Calley was tried for his role in the 1968 My Lai massacre of civilians in Vietnam.
Like that landmark case, the trials of Sivits and other soldiers who have served as guards at Abu Ghraib prison and are accused of abusing Iraqi detainees there hold the potential to calm -- or further inflame -- American and world opinion.
"These are the most important military justice cases in my lifetime because of the impact," said Kevin Barry, a Chantilly, Va., lawyer and a former Coast Guard appellate judge.
But while courts-martial parallel civilian justice, they offer a peculiarly military brand of jurisprudence. Americans inundated with coverage of military justice on cable news channels may find that, as French statesman Georges Clemenceau famously put it, "military justice is to justice as military music is to music."
The main thing the coming military court-martial cases in Iraq have in common with high-profile civilian trials is likely to be an avalanche of publicity.
In military justice, there are no standard sentencing guidelines and defendants are not entitled to be tried by a jury of their peers. In a general court-martial, a jury of five or more service members can take notes and ask questions. Two-thirds of them can send the defendant to prison.
Courts-martial also hold a few advantages for the defendant. Jurors may decide that despite a conviction, no punishment is warranted. If jurors deadlock, the defendant is free and does not face retrial. The defendant's military lawyer is provided without cost, and the defendant can hire as many as he or she likes.
Yet courts-martial often have been criticized for allowing commanders to influence the process by handpicking jurors -- a feature that has been changed in the Canadian and British military systems, though the U.S. has resisted such a move despite the recommendation of at least one major legal panel.
"Can you get a fair trial? Yes. But you never can know for sure, and the reason is this selection process," said Barry, the lawyer. "The aura of command influence in the role of the convening authority is always there."
