JAG Office Procedures/Case Law

The suspension of any command level officer, herein to include CO's, XO's, FD's and DFD's, can be suspended without prior notice, and for any reason so long as the superior officer is in fact in a position of authority to the suspendee and can provide in the form of a report reasonable justification for the suspension. Suspension are not to exceed a period of one week.

Post Suspension procedure: After an individual is suspended, the officer issuing the suspension MUST file a report with the Judge Advocate General, Admiral Griffith, indicating the reason for suspension, the length of suspension if shorter than one week, and a notice of intent as to whether or not further action (i.e. relieval of command) is being sought. At that time the suspending officer must provide all evidence, and claims to the JAG for investigation. Once the JAG has received all information relating to the suspension, he/she will conduct a thorough investigation regarding the matter. If no intent is sought to relieve the individual, the suspension will be noted in the JAG archives for future reference.

The person filing the complaint requesting the relieval of command of the officer in question must file, with the JAG, a comprehensive report indicating the charges said officer is being charged with, any and all evidence relating to the request and a list of all individuals involved, whether directly or indirectly. Upon receipt of the aforementioned items the JAG will conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. After the matter has been investigated, the presiding JAG will convene a three or five member panel to review the investigation results and listen to arguments from both sides. After the hearing has completed the three or five member panel will vote, via a yahoo group poll where no identity's will be revealed, as to whether or not the requesting party has provided enough evidence to justify the "Court Martial" (Relieval of command). If the panel returns a majority vote indicating that there has not been sufficient evidence to continue with a "Court Martial" the JAG will officially pardon the accused and issue a fleet wide apology. However, if the panel indicates that there is enough evidence to continue to "Court martial" the JAG will consult with the alternate two Senior Admirals and determine an appropriate level of punishment. (I.e. relief of command and 6 months probation [meaning he/she will not be able to hold a command position for 6 months] and so on, or whether a permanent relief is necessary.) When the three senior admirals have concurred unanimously on a decision the JAG will render to the accused the decision of the Court Martial.

The above process will apply similarly. HOWEVER, when a permanent banning is requested the three or five member panel will be asked to vote on whether or not this is "reasonable" given the circumstances. If the panel returns a yes, then the three senior admirals... MAY at their discretion permanently ban the accused if found to be guilty. If the panel returns a no, then the senior admirals will be constrained to a punishment not to exceed 6 months relieval of command.

To provide a secondary guideline, no person may be brought before the JAG twice for the same incident, unless the requesting party can provide beyond reasonable doubt that new evidence that directly affects the prior decision has been found, and that the accused did knowingly attempt to conceal or evade the discovery of said evidence. At which time the JAG will at his/her discretion consult the two other Senior Admirals and together, decide whether or not to hear the case again.

- The person requesting the relief must be a Captain or above. This does not preclude the requests of a lower officer, however the officer MUST petition his CO to make the request to the JAG or (IF the JAG is being petitioned for removal- the Senior Admiral) The CO should at this point gather a petition of at least 20 individuals that also concur with the request. At this time the CO requesting the action must in writing submit a detailed report including the reason for the request, the petition with email addresses (for verification purposes only) of the members on said petition, and all evidence involved.

- Upon receiving such a request the JAG or Senior Admiral must notify the Admiral being petitioned for relief that he/she is temporarily frozen. (Meaning he/she may not exercise his/her powers until the matter is resolved. Then convene all of the standing CO's, DD's, DFD's and remaining senior admirals. Present the facts allow the accusers to speak and allow the petitioned admiral to rebut any arguments. Then convene a yahoo groups poll for the panel to submit votes on. IF the panel votes that there is enough evidence to relieve the petitioned admiral from command, the JAG or Senior Admiral will privately notify the Admiral of the outcome and request that he/she step down. At that point the petitioned admiral will have 24 hours to step down- if he/she does not step down the remaining two Admirals will publicly announce via the fleet the decision of the panel and notify all other members of IDF that the petitioned Admiral is no longer in command. At this point the search for a new Admiral must commence. Any new admiral must be submitted to the CO's, DD's and Admirals and be voted on. If the Admiral is selected he/she will assume office within a reasonable time period.

Website created in part by © Rob Donaldson 2004 Webdesign and in part by Admiral Jeremiah A. Griffith, Judge Advocate General and Director of Fleet Personnel and Relations. 2004-Present.


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