UNITED STATES, Appellee v. MAURICE F. KATZ, Airman First Class, U. S. Air Force, Appellant

UNITED STATES, Appellee v MAURICE F. KATZ, Airman First Class, U. S. Air Force, Appellant 20 USCMA 126, 42 CMR 318 No. 23,142 November 6, 1970 Colonel Bertram Jacobson and Captain Robert L. Bridge were on the pleadings for Appellant, Accused. Colonel James M. Bumgarner was on the pleadings for Appellee, United States. [MAJORITY — Quinn, Chief Judge:] Opinion of the Court Quinn, Chief Judge: We granted review in this case to consider the correctness of the trial proceedings leading to the acceptance of the accused’s plea of guilty. The issue was then pending undetermined in United States v Palos, 20 USCMA 104, 42 CMR 296, decided this date. For the reasons set out in our opinion in that case, we affirm the decision of the United States Air Force Court of Military Review. Judge Darden concurs. [DISSENT — Ferguson, Judge] Ferguson, Judge (dissenting) : I dissent. I disagree with my brothers’ holding in this case that the plea of guilty was properly accepted by the military judge for the reasons set forth in my separate opinion in United States v Palos, 20 USCMA 104, 42 CMR 296 (1970). The military judge’s failure to make a specific finding on the record that the accused knowingly, intelligently, and consciously waived his right against self-incrimination, his right to trial of the facts by a court-martial, and his right to be confronted by the witnesses against him, is, in my opinion, reversible error. Cf. United States v Donohew, 18 USCMA 149, 39 CMR 149 (1969); United States v Fortier, 19 USCMA 149, 41 CMR 149 (1969). Without this specific finding on the record, the record is not verbatim as required by law. See my separate opinion in Palos, supra.