United States v. Burry

After joining the Coast Guard, Commissaryman Clayton Burry (defendant) joined the Radio Church of God. This religion prohibited its members from working from sunset on Friday until sunrise on Sunday. Initially, Burry’s military duties did not interfere with his ability to practice his religion. However, Burry was then transferred and had to work on Saturdays on two occasions. Burry was transferred again to the U.S.S. Tamarack as a cook. Burry requested personal liberty every Saturday to accommodate his religious needs. Because another cook was on board who could handle Saturday duties, Burry was given Saturday liberty for the first few months. The other cook was then transferred to another station, leaving Burry as the only cook on the Tamarack. Burry went ashore the next Friday night and did not report for duty again until Sunday morning. Burry’s commanding officer imposed a nonjudicial punishment that restricted Burry to the ship for the next seven days. This punishment meant that Burry was aboard the ship the next Saturday. On Saturday, the commanding officer ordered Burry to cook. Burry refused, stating that he felt more compelled to follow God’s laws than man’s laws. A special court-martial was convened for Burry’s disobedience to this order. A chaplain interviewed Burry and confirmed that Burry’s religious convictions were sincere. The court-martial’s members were instructed that exercising religious freedom was not a defense to disobedience. However, the members were instructed that they could consider whether the order was unlawfully given with the commanding officer’s knowledge that Burry would not obey it, solely to increase Burry’s punishment. Burry was convicted and sentenced to hard labor, a rank reduction, and a bad-conduct discharge. Burry appealed.