The military’s highest civilian appellate court has ruled that a service member’s genuine suicide attempt does not violate good order and discipline or bring discredit upon the armed forces, and therefore is not punishable under military law. The case before the court involved Marine Corps Pvt. Lazzaric T. Caldwell, who was convicted at special court martial after pleading guilty of orders violations, larceny, and wrongful self-injury. It emerged as the armed services are in the grips of a struggle to reduce incidents of suicide among the ranks. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, which issued the ruling in Caldwell’s case, also grappled with concerns whether the goal to reduce suicides runs counter to the letter of military law, which considers suicide attempts as criminal actions. Caldwell was given a bad-conduct discharge and sentenced to 180 days in prison as punishment, with portions of the prison term suspended. Upon appeal, the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the bad-conduct discharge but could not agree on the appropriateness of the confinement sentence.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces agreed to reconsider Caldwell’s case, focusing on the injuries Caldwell inflicted upon himself in a thwarted suicide attempt. Court records show that Caldwell had been caught using “spice,” a form of synthetic marijuana. Caldwell slit his writs in his Okinawa barracks room when he learned that he had been ordered to return to pretrial confinement. His gunnery sergeant found him, administered first aid, and called for a hospital corpsman to intercede. The action saved Caldwell’s life. The suicide attempt was added to the charges Caldwell faced, because the Uniform Code of Military Justice contains clauses that regard such action as prejudicial to good order and discipline.
The trial and appeals courts determined that Caldwell’s suicide attempt indeed violated military law, because of the adverse actions it had on his unit, and the danger he subjected his gunnery sergeant and the corpsman to by exposing them to bodily fluids. In an April 29 majority opinion, Chief Judge James E. Baker of the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces determined that Caldwell’s plea did “not establish that his conduct was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, “ and was not “of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.” As such, Baker wrote, the court did not have to decide whether Caldwell’s suicide attempt violated military law. Baker’s opinion noted that Caldwell had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as other personal problems relating to relationships with his family and his unit. The court’s majority opinion does not negate the law stating that suicide attempts by service members can be criminal acts. Rather, Caldwell’s case was different because his “actions were precipitated by the death of a friend and the prospect of going to the brig,” Baker wrote. “He was not charged with avoiding a military duty (confinement in the brig) and he did not state or admit that he attempted to kill himself to avoid the brig. A bona fide suicide attempt differs from a suicidal gesture.” The case now reverts back to the lower appellate court, which must reconsider Caldwell’s sentence for actions unrelated to the suicide attempt.
