The Board has reopened the appellant's claim regarding whether his character of discharge is a bar to VA benefits due to new and material evidence. The appeal is now remanded for further development, including obtaining records from a local jail and seeking a retrospective medical opinion on the appellant's mental health at the time of his misconduct offenses.
The deciding factor: The Board found that new arguments regarding the appellant's potential insanity defense raised a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim.
- Claimed conditions
- Not specified in this decision
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 21, 2019
- Citation
- 19139126
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,071 · Granted: 26% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 19139126.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
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