[§124A-44]  Who may serve on courts-martial. 
(a)  Any commissioned officer of or on duty with the state military forces is
eligible to serve on all courts-martial for the trial of any person who may
lawfully be brought before such courts for trial.



(b)  Any warrant officer of or on duty with the
state military forces is eligible to serve on general or special courts-martial
for the trial of any person, other than a commissioned officer, who may
lawfully be brought before such courts for trial.



(c)  Any enlisted member of the state military
forces who is not a member of the same unit as the accused is eligible to serve
on general and special courts-martial for the trial of any enlisted member who
may lawfully be brought before such courts for trial, but the enlisted member
shall serve as a member of a court only if, before the convening of the court,
the accused personally has requested in writing that enlisted members serve on
it.  After such a request, the accused may not be tried by a general or special
court-martial the membership of which does not include enlisted members in a
number comprising at least one-third of the total membership of the court,
unless eligible members cannot be obtained on account of physical conditions or
military exigencies.  If such members cannot be obtained, the court may be
convened and the trial held without them, but the convening authority shall
make a detailed written statement, to be appended to the record, stating why
they could not be obtained.



(d)  In this section, the word "unit"
means any regularly organized body of the state military forces not larger than
a company, a squadron, a division of the naval militia, or a body corresponding
to one of them.



(e)  When it can be avoided, no person subject
to this chapter may be tried by a court-martial any member of which is junior
to the person in rank or grade.



(f)  When convening a court-martial, the
convening authority shall detail as members thereof such members as, in the
convening authority's opinion, are best qualified for the duty by reason of
age, education, training, experience, length of service, and judicial
temperament.  No member is eligible to serve as a member of a general or
special court-martial when the member is the accuser or a witness for the prosecution
or has acted as investigating officer or as counsel in the same case.  If
within the command of the convening authority there is present and not
otherwise disqualified a commissioned officer who is a member of the bar of the
highest court of the State and of appropriate rank and grade, the convening
authority shall appoint the commissioned officer as president of a special
court-martial.  Although this requirement is binding on the convening
authority, failure to meet it in any case does not divest a military court of
jurisdiction. [L 1982, c 171, pt of §2; gen ch 1985]