  |  | | Documents relating to the court martial of William L. Calley
Charges, Testimony, Summations, Decision of U.S. Court of Military Appeals in Calley Case of 21 December 1973 | | | United States, Appellee v William L. Calley Jr., First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Appellant
United States Court of Military Appeals, 22 U.S.C.M.A. 534, December 21, 1973 |
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| |  | | William Calley | | | context : | Vietnam  | | judgement place : | United States | | status : | Sentenced | | particulars : | Sentenced to hard labour for life for premeditated murder | | position : | Lieutenant |
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| | | | On 29 March, 1971, Lieutenant William Calley was found guilty of premeditated murder of 22 people and of one case of attempted murder against a child of two years of age. His sentence was pronounced in application of Article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (Article 118 – Murder: Any person subject to this chapter who without justification or excuse unlawfully kills a human being when he — 1) has a premeditated design to kill, 2) intends to kill or inflict great bodily harm, 3) is engaged in an act which is inherently dangerous to others and evinces a wanton disregard for human life; or 4) is engaged in perpetration or attempted perpetration of burglary, sodomy, rape, robbery, or aggravated arson, is guilty of murder, and shall suffer such punishment as a court-martial trial may direct).
Calley filed an appeal against his conviction.
On 21 December, 1973, the United States Court of Military Appeals handed down its verdict in the case. It reiterated that American Military Law had long considered that the execution of a prisoner putting up no resistance was murder. Rather than systematically executing all of the villagers, Calley should have freed those amongst them who were obviously civilians and arrested those who could be suspected of being combatants. Even the hostile acts which might have been committed by some of these people before their arrest did not justify their execution.
The Court of Military Appeals also judged that Calley could not invoke in his defence that orders were received from his superiors to be exonerated from his criminal responsibility. Indeed, an act committed in conformity with an illegal order is not subject to punishment, except:
1. if the accused knew that the order was illegal: in such a case the personal character of the accused must be taken into account (education, hierarchical level, experience in the field, etc.) or
2. if someone with common sense and understanding, would have known, in the same circumstances, that this order was illegal: in this case, the assessment is no longer focused on the personality of the accused but on an abstractly defined standard.
In this case, the Court judged that the order given to kill children and unarmed civilians who were incapable of offering resistance, was very clearly illegal. Any person “with common sense and understanding” would have realised this. It was even possible to be more demanding of Calley in this respect, in view of his grade and experience.
As a result Calley’s appeal was rejected.
On 9 November, 1974, William Calley was paroled and freed after only three and a half years of imprisonment. | |    | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | nationality : | | | United states | | | date of birth : | | | 08.06.1943 | | | period of charges : | | | 16.03.1968 - 16.03.1968 | | | judgement period : | | | 21.03.1971 - 21.12.1971 | | | charges : | | | War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 17.03.2005 |
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