Sentence relief on appeal

The Air Force Reporter's latest issue has a most interesting article by Major Kevin W. Gotfredson and Captain Micah L. Smith, Sentence Relief at the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals During the Last 10 Years. Their review of the data yields this conclusion: "On average over the 10-year period [2006-15] AFCCA granted relief in just 5 percent of cases--minor relief in 1.6 percent of cases and substantial relief in 3.4 percent of cases." They add: "On the rare occasion when sentence relief was granted, it was usually not based on factual sufficiency or sentence appropriateness." Both authors are honors law clerks at the Air Force Court.