Presiding Officer (Office Of Military Commissions)
The United States of America has charged Guantanamo captives before "Military Commissions", each presided over by a Presiding Officer. The Presiding Officers were initially to serve as the first among equals on bodies were the commission members served the roles similar to both judge and jury. In the first version of the Military Commissions the Presiding Officer was to be the only member of the Commission who was a lawyer. So the Presiding Officer would be making all the ruling similar to the rulings on points of law that a judge makes in courts of law. But the Presiding Officer would also be voting on the suspect's guilt or innocence—unlike in a jury trial. The Commission system was extensively reformed in the summer of 2004. Several of the original Commission members of the first Commission were retired, because of their inherent bias. The structure of the Commissions were changed, so that the Presiding Officer would no long vote on the suspect's guilt. In the summer of 200 ...
[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]