This is the Appeals system at work, I think.
Given the facts, the CM gave as lenient a sentence as they could. The message to the Armed Forces from a suspended sentence would have been wrong.
They left the door open in the President's summing up, "Parliament has decreed".
And Parliament,in its wisdom, has now, via LCJ, re-decreed.
Message to average squaddie is still imprisonment from a CM for keeping arms/ammo. Message from general public is "If you are in an elite unit and on constant call and brain-damaged and this is the first time you've f#cked up..and..and...and, then you get forgiven...once.
We have a jury system in civil courts. I recall the case of a father up for grevious wounding, etc, who had taken a shotgun to the one-eyed truck driver who, driving illegally, had run down and killed his daughter. 55 zillion witnesses; verdict: Not Guilty.
There are always exceptions.
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Last edited by Fox3WheresMyBanana; 29th Nov 2012 at 19:50.