War Crimes Trials: Procedural Due Process

The newly arrived Army Judge Advocate officer in Viet-Nam read through the two war crimes files assigned to him to prosecute as capital offenses before US military tribunals. The offenses had taken place in South Viet-Namese territory during the time of US military assistance to defend against the armed aggression from North Viet-Nam.'The first file concerned the murder of a village chief, his wife and three children, and two teachers by two members of theNorth Viet-Nan army. The second file reflected that a US Army batallion commander had been fatally shot in his sleep by three guerallas who had posed as indigenous mess hall employees, thereby gaining admission to the compound early one morning and thereafter entering the victim's tent where he slept. The files contained both sworn and unsworn statements from witnesses, mostly regarding hearsay matters; depositions from several villagers and from some US military personnel who had been reassigned to either the US orEurope or had been discharged; and sworn statements from the four accused in custody which the CID, in cooperation with the Viet- Namese authorities, had obtained. The fifth accused, one of the guerrillas had fled to a neighboring state. The trials had been authorized by higher headquarters and qualified US Amy counsel had been assigned to represent the five defendants and interpreters provided to each accused or his counsel.