Bravo Fleet Judicial Code

Section 1 – The Magistrate Corps

• The Bravo Fleet Magistrate appoints to, and removes from, the Bravo Fleet Magistrate’s office members as they see fit to assist in the work of the court. Two Magistrate advisers: one serving as Investigator and the other serving as Defender, will be appointed by the Bravo Fleet Magistrate for one-year terms, from among the non-BFA membership of the Fleet.
• An appeals panel will exist to examine all issues brought by appellants. The panel consists of three active members selected from non-BFA Bravo Fleet members, each with at least 1 year of membership in the fleet. Should a sitting member of the Appeals Panel be advanced to a BFA position during their term, they will be permitted to finish out their current term, or asked to resign at their or the Magistrate’s discretion. The Magistrate will have a brief application and investigation period to obtain members who wish to participate and will be positive additions to the panel. After the selections are made, the three panel members will serve non-consecutive six month terms.
• The Bravo Fleet Magistrate will choose either the Investigator or the Defender to serve as acting Bravo Fleet Magistrate in the case of their leave of absence. The acting Bravo Fleet Magistrate shall have all powers of the Bravo Fleet Magistrate except the powers to amend the Magistrate Code and to appoint permanent staff; any staff appointed by the acting Bravo Fleet Magistrate may be removed at will by the Bravo Fleet Magistrate on their return.
• The Bravo Fleet Magistrate’s office convenes to determine the guilt or innocence and appropriate punishment of a member accused of misconduct by their superiors.
• Any member may issue a complaint to the Bravo Fleet Magistrate requesting an investigation. All investigations will be conducted by the Bravo Fleet Magistrate’s office unless otherwise decreed by the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer or Bravo Fleet Magistrate.
• The Bravo Fleet Magistrate’s office is dependent on the timely administration of all aspects of every case. The Bravo Fleet Magistrate must be available on a regular basis.
• The rules within the Charter and Magistrate Code exclusively govern all Magistrate proceedings. No reference made to any outside rule of law will be honored.

Section 2 – The Rights of the Accused

• In accordance with the provisions of the Charter and Magistrate Code, members are afforded a right to trial in relation to charges brought by the Magistrate.
• Members accused of a violation of these articles shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and no right granted by the Charter may be revoked without due process.
• All members shall have the right to remain silent, and not offer incriminating evidence against themselves.
• All members shall be offered the right to assistance from members of the fleet in assisting to defend them. The choice by default is the Magistrate Defender, though the defendant possesses the right to seek aid from any member of Bravo Fleet in good standing that has been a member of the Fleet for at least 30 days at the time charges are filed willing to assist in their defense.
• All members are guaranteed freedom from punishments ex post facto.  That is, no member will be charged or punished with a rule that is made after the offense in question.
• All members are afforded the right to use the appropriate appeals process as described in the Magistrate Code.
• All members shall have the right to know what charges are being laid against them and a summary of facts that support the charge. In addition, at the time of being charged, members have the right to know the range of penalties the prosecution is seeking to have placed against the defendant in the case of a conviction.
• Members have the right to obtain copies of all evidence to be used against them at trial after a plea has been entered, but, in exchange, must provide to the Investigator any evidence they intend to use at trial.

Section 3 – Process of Adjudication

• To begin the process of adjudication, a member must submit a formal complaint to the Magistrate. The complaint must indicate the parties to the action, must give a brief statement of the facts, and must clearly delineate that the member requires formal action from the Magistrate’s office rather than other action such as mediation. Sufficient for the last requirement are phrases such as “I present a formal complaint,” “I officially request action be taken,” or an email subject of “Formal Complaint against XXXXX.”
• Once a complaint is submitted, the member’s rights in that complaint shall not expire until a full conclusion of the case through trial, settlement or dismissal. The Magistrate must give the complaining member notice of the finality of the case.
• The Magistrate has its own investigatory and complaint powers. The Magistrate may proceed with its own investigation and complaint at its own discretion without the need for a member submission.
• After receiving a complaint, the Magistrate’s office investigates the merit of the accusation and informs the Bravo Fleet Admiralty of the commencement of an investigation.
• The Bravo Fleet Magistrate, Commanding Officer, or a Magistrate officer, upon receiving a formal complaint, will attempt to mediate the dispute to arrive at a settlement. Attempted mediation does not bar the member from continuing the adjudication under their complaint if mediation fails. At the end of a successful mediation, the Magistrate may ask for a withdrawal of the complaint or, if three months have passed since the end of mediation without any further inquiries by the complaining member, the Magistrate may dismiss the complaint themself.
• If the Magistrate’s office finds merit to the claim, the case will be pursued. The Magistrate or the Investigator will prepare the slate of charges against the accused. Prior to giving their final approval, the Magistrate will present the charges to the complaining party, if applicable, and the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer for comments. Once a final slate of charges is approved by the Magistrate, it will be sent to the appropriate parties as well as the range of penalties the prosecution is seeking to have placed against the defendant in the case of a conviction.
• Under the Statute of Repose, the Magistrate must determine the case’s merit, either filing charges or dropping the case, within six (6) months of receiving the initial complaint.
• The Magistrate will issue a summary of charges to the accused. The summary will include not only references to specific Charter or Code sections, rules or regulations, but also a brief factual overview of the charges. Upon issuance, the Defender will provide the accused a summary of their rights and the process of adjudication. The accused will have at least 72-hours to enter a plea of guilty or not-guilty. The plea may be submitted by the Defender on behalf of the accused only if they have been given explicit authority to enter the plea by the accused. The following will occur upon each possible plea:
  • Guilty Plea: If the accused pleads guilty, the Magistrate will impose a sentence as outlined in the following sections.
  • Not-Guilty Plea: If the accused pleads not-guilty, the Magistrate will initiate either a Trial by Magistrate or Trial by Jury as outlined in the following sections.
  • Failure to Plea: If the accused fails to enter a plea within the allotted time, the case will automatically move to a Trial by Magistrate. A member failing or refusing to enter a plea waives the right to submit evidence or argument on their behalf at trial.
• Upon entry of a plea, the accused may be offered the choice of type of trial, depending on the range of proposed penalties. For all charges in which the proposed penalty is a maximum of a one-grade Admiral or Senior Officer demotion, a two-grade Junior Officer demotion, a Letter of Reprimand, one year probation, or a combination of the above, a Trial by Magistrate will be held unless the Magistrate determines that it is appropriate to offer the member an option for a Trial by Jury. For all other charges, the accused will have at least 48-hours to choose between Trial by Magistrate and Trial by Jury. In the event that no choice is made by the accused, a Trial by Magistrate will be held.
• Trial by Magistrate
  • In a Trial by Magistrate, the Magistrate serves as both the facilitator of the trial process as well as the trier of fact. The parties submit evidence and the Magistrate determines the guilt or innocence of the accused based on the preponderance of the evidence. The Magistrate, despite prior knowledge of the case through the Office’s investigation, is presumed to be impartial.
  • The Magistrate shall impose sentences with the advice of the Magistrate officers.
• Trial by Jury
  • In a Trial by Jury, the Magistrate serves as the facilitator of the trial process, but a jury of peers serves as the trier of fact. The parties submit evidence, and the jury determines the guilt of innocence of the accused.
  • The format for the presentation of arguments during a Trial by Jury shall be as follows: The Investigator and Defender will each make opening statements in turn, then each in turn shall be offered an opportunity for a response. Finally, each side will be allowed a closing rebuttal, to be sent to the Magistrate for simultaneous posting.
  • Following the presentation of arguments, jurors will be able to ask questions specifically directed to either the Magistrate, Investigator, or Defender and the questioned party will be required to respond. Following the answering of all questions, the case will be referred to the jury for deliberations.
• No offense in the past will have any bearing on the guilt or innocence of a member in any subsequent case. However, the Magistrate, in determining the punishment for a guilty member, may consider the prior record of the accused to include convictions. No acquittal shall be used in the consideration of punishment for current offenses.
• Upon conclusion of the trial and expiration of the appeal window or the resolution of the appeals process, the Magistrate shall post the results in a Magistrate’s report. This report shall contain a summary of the trial, the result, and the Magistrate’s opinion. For cases decided by the Magistrate, this opinion shall contain an official explanation for the Magistrate staff’s decision. For cases decided by a jury, it will contain the reasons for the specific sentence and any other comments the Magistrate wishes to include.
• If the member is acquitted of all charges, the accused member may not be retried for the offense that was acquitted, even upon the revelation of new evidence, unless the verdict was delivered through a miscarriage or defamation of the judicial process as determined by the Appeals Panel. This does not apply to admissions of guilt. Any member that admits guilt post-trial may be re-tried and sentenced per that admission.
• The Magistrate’s office shall keep records on the members for use in cases of repeat offenses. In addition, the Magistrate is responsible for archiving and protecting all Magistrate’s office information for future reference.
• Statute of Limitations: All complaints must be received within six (6) months of the discovery of the underlying event or else they will be dismissed as time-barred. If the complaint is derived from a series of events, the six (6) month time period will begin tolling from the last known event.
• Statute of Repose: All charges must be brought forth against the accused within six (6) months of the initial complaint of the underlying event or else they will be dismissed as time-barred. If the complaint is derived from a series of events, the six (6) month time period will begin tolling from the last known event. There is no statute of repose for charges of Cloning
• The following rule ls before the Magistrate:
  • Hearsay: Hearsay evidence is generally not permitted. For the purposes of this rule, hearsay is the report of another person's words by a witness or third party. Direct logs of an incident are not hearsay. In the event that a charge relates to events that occurred over voice chat, the Magistrate may make appropriate provisions for the admission of hearsay evidence if they determine that there are suitable witnesses and the trier of fact is cognizant of the potential reliability issues.
  • Relevance: Evidence that is not relevant to the case at hand will not be admitted. This includes evidence of prior crimes.
  • System Logs: Logs and records received from computer systems, including Bravo Fleet websites, are admissible and presumed to be accurate unless proven otherwise.
  • Exculpatory Evidence: Evidence that is clearly exculpatory in nature by showing, as determined by the Magistrate, that the member is clearly not-guilty may be presented at any time during the trial. If exculpatory evidence is discovered after a conviction, the Magistrate will present the evidence to the Appeals Panel. The Appeals Panel may overturn the conviction based on exculpatory evidence by a unanimous vote.
• The Magistrate, with approval from the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer, may summarily dismiss charges regardless of the stage in the proceedings. Charges that have been so dismissed are not barred from retrial through double-jeopardy.
• For good cause, the Magistrate may upon request or unilaterally extend any time period provided for in this Article.
• The Magistrate's Office does not recognize motions of any kind from any party to a case, unless explicitly allowed by other provisions.
• The Magistrate must keep the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer apprised of the progress in any investigation or trial, unless the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer is the accused, in which case their rights are those of an accused Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer.

Section 4 – Juries

• The jury consists of one member of the Bravo Fleet Admiralty and four other random members with at least 9 months of service in the fleet. In addition, two alternates will be selected in case a juror recuses themself or is absent without leave. If the alternates are exhausted, more will be selected as needed. The Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer shall independently verify that the jury was selected at random.
• No member may sit on a jury deciding their own case.
• Jury members should recuse themselves from the trial if they feel they cannot judge the action impartially.
• The burden of the jury will be to reach a majority decision on the innocence or guilt, supported by a preponderance of the evidence, of the accused on each charge presented. The accused may waive their right to review by the jury, choosing deliberation by the Magistrate instead.
• The jury will vote on the guilt or innocence of the member only. The punishment is determined by the Magistrate as based on the laws of the fleet and previous precedent. However, in cases where expulsion is a possibility, the Magistrate will convene a new jury (consisting of the same make-up of five members) to vote on whether the charges warrant expulsion. A unanimous vote will result in expulsion.
• Jury deliberations will be closed, with only the jurors and the Magistrate allowed to contribute. However, the Magistrate may only contribute specifically on clarifications on matters of procedure or rules of the Magistrate process. Otherwise, all Magistrate contributions shall be in response to direct questions from the jurors to the Magistrate, such as requesting additional information or clarification from the Magistrate, Investigator, or Defender.
• All juries must hold their deliberations in a medium, chosen by the Magistrate, that can be archived by the fleet.

Section 5 – Appeals Panel

• The Appeals Panel exists to review and determine whether the process of adjudication and the various rules set forth in the Charter and Code are followed. In terms of trials, the Appeals Panel does not exist to make an independent finding of whether a party is guilty or not-guilty under the evidence, but rather serves to ensure that justice was served fairly and in accordance with the Charter and Magistrate Code. Therefore, the Appeals Panel focuses on procedural issues.
• If the defendant or prosecution feels that an error has been made, they can write an appeal and present it to the Magistrate, who will in turn bring it before the appeals panel. Appeals cannot be trivial in nature, and must specifically point to the error(s) made. The appellant must find either an issue arising from Bravo Fleet documents or judicial process error.
• If a defendant or the Defender (acting as defense counsel) finds fault with a procedural or documentary issue while the trial is on-going, they may either bring that issue to the immediate attention of the appeals panel, who will expedite a ruling on that single issue, or (if that is not possible) they may make note of the issue during the case so it will automatically be brought before the appeals panel post-decision.
• Appeal requests must be submitted within 72 hours after the trial’s conclusion.
• Once an appeal is accepted, the panel will examine the case and debate the points brought by the appellant. The panel will only examine the written appeal to make its decision taking into account the deliberation logs and emails, the original case statements, and any other document relating to the case. The panel must reach a unanimous decision to overturn the original court’s decision, any stalemate or lack of unanimous vote will cause the decision to stand. All appeals must be resolved within 4 days.
• Standard of Review: The Appeals Panel must judge whether the alleged procedural error resulted in a change of the outcome of the proceeding. For example, for a trial that ended in a guilty verdict, the Appeals Panel must decide if, had the alleged error not occurred, the outcome would have been not guilty. The Appeals Panel must be substantially certain that the outcome would have been different had the error not occurred. Substantially certain means more than 80% certain. For the review of penalties, the Appeals Panel will review the penalty to ensure that the penalty (i) is generally in line with precedent of prior penalties issued to members; and (ii) is not outside the bounds of reasonableness given the offence.
• If the panel finds in favor of the appellant, the case will return to trial in the method previously specified. If the method is a Trial by Jury, a new jury is assembled and the case is retried, being sure to instruct the new jury of the appealed issues to ensure they are not repeated. If the defendant is found guilty in the second trial, they do not have a right to an appeal; they are immediately put before the Magistrate for sentencing. If the panel upholds the original verdict, the sentencing or penalty will go into effect immediately and no further appeals will be entertained.

Section 6 – Specific Articles of Conduct and Reprimand

• These articles of conduct and reprimand do not limit the authority of the Magistrate. The term “fleet proceeding,” as used in this section refers to actions taken under the documents of the fleet, including, but not limited to, any executive action by the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer, any action by the Bravo Fleet Admiralty, or any judicial action by the Magistrate’s office.
• Discrimination: No member shall discriminate against another member in regards to promotions, medal awards, praise and acknowledgment, or positions on the basis of real-life political affiliation, gender, race, color, age, disability, creed, heritage, nationality or sexual orientation.
• Crude Behavior: No member shall engage in crude behavior in any mode of communication. Crude behavior includes, but is not limited to: the excessive use of swear words; provocative speech; excessive sexual discussions; and unabated insults toward another’s real-life political affiliation, nationality, gender, race, color, age, disability, creed, heritage, or sexual orientation.
• Abuse of Power: Members must not use their position, rank, tenure or any other membership status to unfairly benefit or harm themselves or others with rewards or promotions; or to unfairly influence any Bravo Fleet proceeding or Bravo Fleet competition. Abuse of power includes acts whereby a member abuses their power to actively harm Bravo Fleet. Abuse of power also includes retaliation against members for exercising their rights under the Charter and Magistrate Code to submit complaints without harm or retribution.
• Verbal Abuse: No member shall engage in the excessive verbal or written abuse of another, including, but not limited to: insults regarding a member’s real-life political affiliation, gender, race, creed, heritage, nationality or sexual orientation; character assassination; or unjust use of Bravo Fleet resources to attack another through defamatory statements.
• Disreputable Behavior: No member shall partake in any action that brings disrepute onto themselves, the fleet as a whole, or any independent fleet, ship, or individual member. Actions include those done by a member, either within or outside traditional Bravo Fleet activities and communication channels, that reflect on the above parties, such as: undermining or circumvention of the Bravo Fleet Charter, Magistrate Code, or policies, acts to sabotage, stealing of property, or any conduct forbidden by these articles.
• Plagiarism: No member shall submit any plagiarized work as their own or fail to give appropriate credit to the author of any work. Tampering with Evidence: No member shall forge, alter or otherwise tamper with evidence to be used in any Bravo Fleet proceeding.
• False Statements: No member shall make false statements with the intent to change the outcome of a Bravo Fleet proceeding.
• Harassment: No member shall engage in persistent harassment or torment, or outrageous attacks on any other member. This includes statements and actions taken to attack a member’s real-life political affiliation, family or significant other, gender, race, color, age, disability, creed, heritage, nationality or sexual orientation. This article extends to cover harassment through the distribution of personal information, the creation of groups or modes of communication for the purpose of attacking the member, and unwanted contact with the member through non-internet means of communication. Harassment punished under this article must be to the extent and of the form that would injure a reasonable person of normal sensibilities; mere mocking does not suffice.
• Unauthorized Access: No member shall access, modify or delete content from any restricted section of the fleet website, e-mail list, or other digital asset of Bravo Fleet or of its members. Members must not misappropriate the profile or personal information of another member. Such misappropriation includes, but is not limited to, changing passwords or e-mail addresses, unauthorized distribution of personal information, removing personal information, and submitting or processing promotion or award recommendations.
• Cloning: Members must not, without prior approval of the Magistrate, have more than one Bravo Fleet account within a single household or on a single connection. Any offense committed by such an unauthorized clone will be attributed to the original member. Matching IP addresses create a presumption of cloning that can only be rebutted by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that two people exist.
  • Cloning is the intentional creation of multiple accounts to manipulate contests or other fleet systems to a member’s benefit, and, as such, situations in which two or more members share an IP address (including but not limited to residing in the same household) must be cleared through the Magistrate, as shared IPs are prima facie evidence of cloning. Any offenses committed by suspected clones or duplicate accounts will be attributed to the original account.
• Violations of Fleet Policies: These articles of conduct and reprimand are not all-inclusive and do not limit the authority of the Magistrate to enforce Bravo Fleet policies, rules and regulations, provided that said policies are enacted in conformity with the Charter.

Section 7 – Penalties

• Penalties may only be administered within the processes outlined in the Magistrate Code.
• Penalties outside of trial should be applied within a reasonable time after the infraction or conviction, generally 15 days.
• Unless otherwise specifically stated herein, the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer may, through a declaration in a Bravo Fleet policy, authorize Bravo Fleet Admiralty members to issue specific Executive Penalties related to their offices, and all references to “Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer” in this section refer to the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer or any Bravo Fleet Admiralty member so permitted to issue the penalty.
• If a penalty is issued without an official judicial process, it will be reviewed by the Magistrate or Appeals Panel within 48 hours. The Magistrate may review an Executive Penalty, and is the final say on the legitimacy of the penalty. Any penalty issued by the Magistrate without a trial may be appealed to the Appeals Panel.
• Any medal, promotion, possession, or other benefit received by a member through an administrative error may be corrected by the appropriate Bravo Fleet Admiralty member and is not considered a penalty.
• There are two types of penalties that may be administered by the Bravo Fleet leadership:
  • Executive Penalties: Penalties that do not require a judicial process and are within the realm of the Bravo Fleet Command Officer’s executive authority.
  • Judicial Penalties: Penalties that require judicial action and may only be imposed by the Magistrate.
• Activity Bans: Banning a member from a certain type of activity may be either an Executive or Judicial Penalty. The Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer may order a member to be banned for a period of up to one month from a certain activity, including participation in the Academy, gaming, Fleet Actions, competitions, or other activities. Any activity ban beyond one month is a Judicial Penalty.
• Administrative Notes: Any member of the Bravo Fleet Admiralty may make Administrative Notes on the dossier of a member. Members do not have a right to view the notes.
• Ban from Communications: Banning a member from a method of communication may be either an Executive or Judicial Penalty. The Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer may ban a member from a mode of communication for up to one month. Any ban beyond one month is a Judicial Penalty.
• Clones: The Magistrate is charged with investigating all possible cloning activity within the Fleet and eliminating any clones that are identified. The Magistrate has the ability to remove clones that are identified within the first six months of the registration of the dossier without going through any judicial process.
• Demotions: Demoting a member is a Judicial Penalty.
• Disqualification: Disqualifying a member from a certain competition or event can be either an Executive Penalty or Judicial Penalty. Disqualifications may also be made by competition organizers if approved by the Chief of Staff.
• Expulsion: Expelling a member is a Judicial Penalty.
• Letters of Reprimand: As a Judicial Penalty, the Magistrate has the authority to issue a Letter of Reprimand to a member. They are generally issued with any conviction by the Office of the Magistrate and signify that the member has violated the rules of the Fleet to such a degree that their record should be marred. The Magistrate may, upon application of the member and for good cause shown, expunge a Letter of Reprimand from a member’s dossier if the following criteria are met:
  • the Magistrate determines that the member has been completely rehabilitated;
  • at least two years have passed; and
  • the Magistrate and the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer agree that there is no future benefit to having a public reference on the member’s dossier.
• Loss of Progress: Removal from a member of progress gained toward promotion other honor is generally a Judicial Penalty. Moreover, any penalties may be used in consideration of whether a member is entitled to promotions or other honors.
• Other Judicial Penalties: Nothing in these provisions limits the ability of the Magistrate to formulate the appropriate penalty for specific needs; however, the Magistrate must document the reason for these penalties.
• Probation: As a Judicial Penalty, the Magistrate has the authority to put a member on probation for a period of time. The following provisions apply to probation:
  • General Probation: The impact of general probation is that the member may not receive a merit medal, promotion, or position assignment without the express approval of the Magistrate. The only purpose of general probation is to ensure that the judicial process is not abused by immediately giving back to a member honors that may have been stripped from them as penalties, or positions that have been lost. Generally the Magistrate will approve those that occur in the ordinary course of membership.
  • Strict Probation: The Magistrate may issue strict probation against a member for a period of time. A strict probation has all of the same characteristics of general probation, but may also have any of the following characteristics:
    • Prohibition from receiving a promotion;
    • Prohibition from receiving a medal;
    • Bans from certain activities;
    • Removal or delaying of progress towards subsequent honors; or
    • Prohibition from serving in a leadership position.
  • Time served in the probationary period only counts when a member is in an active unit. Once a member enters the Reserves, the probationary period pauses until such time that the member re-enters an active unit, at which point the probation begins again.
• Removal From or Denial of Position: The removal of a member from a position or denial of a position to a member as a penalty is either a Judicial or Executive Penalty. This penalty may be exercised by the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer as a result of the outcome of a Magistrate proceeding. The Magistrate may also impose the removal from position as a Judicial Penalty.
• Revocation of Medals: Any removal of a medal other honor received by a member is a Judicial Penalty.

Section 8 – Order of Advanced Incarceration

• The Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer or Magistrate is entitled to special executive powers in times of crisis, when the security of the fleet is at risk, or when a member has become an immediate threat to themselves or other members. The Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer or Magistrate may enact an Order of Advanced Incarceration pending the trial of the accused which allows them to suspend the accused from all positions within the fleet, deactivate the accused member’s accounts and remove access to any databases, ban the accused from all fleet forums and chat or other related communications media, or enact other forms of control not listed here to ensure the security of the fleet.
• Because an Order of Advanced Incarceration can immediately assign assumed guilt to the member, it should be used with caution and as a last resort.
• Upon such an order, the appeals panel must immediately convene and determine the order’s necessity. Should the panel deem such an order inappropriate by a unanimous vote, they may override the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer or Magistrate and nullify the order. Otherwise, the order will stand until the end of the trial or until the threat has passed as determined by the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer or Magistrate.
• In cases of otherwise unavoidable, immediate grave danger; any other member of the Bravo Fleet Admiralty may impose such measures for a non-extendable period of a maximum of 24 hours. They must immediately inform the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer and Magistrate of this action and will be held accountable by the Magistrate Corps for any abuse of this power.

Section 9 – Removal of a Member from a Unit

• Prior to submitting a complaint to remove or ban a member, a unit’s leaders must confront the subject member with the issues that give rise to the possible complaint, and must attempt to mediate the dispute with a senior leader as the mediator. Confrontation and mediation should be well-documented, preferably over e-mail.
• The leader of an independent unit may issue a complaint to the Magistrate and Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer seeking removal of the member, or seeking to ban the member from entrance into the unit. The complaint will contain a summary of facts, including any logs, e-mails or other evidence to verify the facts of the complaint. The complaint must also detail the efforts made to confront the issue and mediate any dispute.
• The Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer and Magistrate will deliberate the facts of the case and determine if there is a basis for removal of the member by a preponderance of the evidence. The Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer and Magistrate must determine that the attempts to mediate the dispute were handled in accordance with the Charter and Magistrate Code, and may indicate to the unit that additional attempts to mediate or confront the issue are required. Moreover, the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer and Magistrate will ensure that the unit is uniformly applying its membership standards and not discriminating against the affected member in particular. Otherwise, if both the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer and Magistrate are in agreement, an order will be issued by the Magistrate to remove or ban the member.
• Upon the issuance of an order removing or banning a member, the Appeals Panel must immediately convene and determine the order’s necessity. The decision of the Appeals Panel will be issued within five days. If the Appeals Panel decides that the order was inappropriate by a unanimous vote, the order will be reversed. Otherwise, the order will stand and be put into effect. For the purposes of the Appeal, the Defender will submit on behalf of the member stating the case of the member to remain in or transfer to the unit.
• Complaint Related to Prior Magistrate Code Convictions: as an alternative to the above procedures, the leader of a unit may issue a complaint to the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer and Magistrate seeking to stop the transfer of a member into their unit on the basis that the member has previously been convicted by the Magistrate. The Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer and Magistrate may enact a ban if the member has a conviction that the leader proves would result in an incompatibility with the unit. Typical convictions for this action include harassment of a sexual nature, or egregious cheating. Bans of this nature must be renewed on an annual basis.

Section 10 – Amendment

• The Magistrate can amend the Magistrate Code with approval of a two-thirds majority of the Bravo Fleet Admiralty.