Billie Joe King v. R. I. Moseley, Warden

430 F.2d 732, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 7771
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 11, 1970
Docket50-69_1
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 430 F.2d 732 (Billie Joe King v. R. I. Moseley, Warden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Billie Joe King v. R. I. Moseley, Warden, 430 F.2d 732, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 7771 (10th Cir. 1970).

Opinions

SETH, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a dismissal without a hearing of appellant’s petition [733]*733for a writ of habeas corpus. The case had its genesis in 1962 when the appellant, then a private in the United States Army, stationed at Fort Gordon, Georgia, was arrested by the Oklahoma State Police on suspicion of bank robbery. When arrested, the appellant identified himself as Joseph J. Poye, who was a fellow soldier in appellant’s unit at Fort Gordon, Georgia. It is not necessary for the purposes of this appeal to recount all the bizarre details; it is sufficient to say that several months later appellant was temporarily turned over to the custody of the military authorities by the State of Oklahoma and he assisted the Army in locating the skeletal remains of Private Poye. When this was done, appellant was returned to State custody in Oklahoma where he pleaded guilty to the charge of bank robbery and was sentenced to twelve years in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

On January 29, 1964, the military notified the appellant that he was to be charged with the premeditated murder of Private Joseph J. Poye. The appellant requested a sanity board hearing which was held and he was found sane. After some delay caused by the question whether he should be tried by militai’y or civil authorities, he was tried by a general court-martial on June 22-25, 1964, convicted of premeditated murder, and sentenced to be dishonorably discharged, to forfeit all pay and allowances, and to be put to death.

The convening authority referred the record to the Staff Judge Advocate for review. The findings and sentence were approved by the convening authority, and the record was forwarded to the Judge Advocate General of the Army for review by the Board of Beview. The Board of Beview found the finding of guilty correct in law and fact, but reassessed the sentence approving only so much thereof as provided for dishonorable discharge, total forfeiture of pay and confinement at hard labor for life.

The appellant thereafter filed a petition for review in the United States Court of Military Appeals. This petition was granted to review the sufficiency of the law officer’s instruction on mental capacity to premeditate and his failure to instruct on the lesser included offenses of involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide. The United States Court of Military Appeals affirmed the decision of the Board of Be-view.

The appellant’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus asserts several reasons why he should be released. He contends that there was error in the court-martial because the president of the Court-Martial Board was a policeman; that the law officer erred in deciding on the voluntariness of appellant’s pretrial statement; that the law officer erred in admitting evidence of appellant’s prior misconduct; that there was error in allowing the Court-Martial Board to take the pretrial statements of the appellant into closed session; that there was error in the instructions given to the Court-Martial Board; and that the evidence failed to show that the appellant knew the difference between right and wrong. We do not reach the merits of these contentions because they are clearly beyond the scope of review of a military court-martial by a civil court on a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Fowler v. Wilkinson, 353 U.S. 583, 77 S.Ct. 1035, 1 L.Ed.2d 1054; Burns v. Wilson, 346 U.S. 137, 73 S.Ct. 1045, 97 L.Ed. 1508; Hiatt v. Brown, 339 U.S. 103, 70 S.Ct. 495, 94 L.Ed. 691; Humphrey v. Smith, 336 U.S. 695, 69 S.Ct. 830, 93 L.Ed. 986; Carter v. McClaughry, 183 U.S. 365, 22 S.Ct. 181, 46 L.Ed. 236; Carter v. Boberts, 177 U.S. 496, 20 S.Ct. 713, 44 L.Ed. 861; In re Grimley, 137 U.S. 147, 11 S.Ct. 54, 34 L.Ed. 636; Ex parte Reed, 100 U.S. 13, 25 L.Ed. 538.

The appellant contends here for the first time that the court-martial was without jurisdiction over the offense and the appellant, relying on the decision of the Supreme Court in O’Callahan v. Parker, 395 U.S. 258, 89 S.Ct. 1683, 23 L.Ed.2d 291. Appellant points out in his brief the fact that the court-martial [734]*734record shows that he testified that the offense was committed on the military reservation. Furthermore, appellant had admitted that he shot Private Poye, a fellow soldier, on the military reservation, Fort Gordon, Georgia, and advanced a defense that the shooting was accidental. At the time the petitioner had been found to be competent, and thus competent to make such statements.

Given these facts, this case is “service connected” within the rule laid down in O’Callahan v. Parker, 895 U.S. 258, 89 S.Ct. 1683. The Supreme Court said in that case that for a crime to be under military jurisdiction, it must be “service connected.” In holding that the Army did not have jurisdiction over a crime committed by a soldier against a civilian, while on leave and wearing civilian clothes, the Court said:

“In the present case petitioner was properly absent from his military base when he committed the crimes with which he is charged. There was no connection — not even the remotest one —between his military duties and the crimes in question. The crimes were not committed on a military post or enclave; nor was the person whom he attacked performing any duties relating to the military. Moreover, Hawaii, the situs of the crime, is not an armed camp under military control, as are some of our far-flung outposts.”

In the instant case, the crime was committed on a military post or enclave by a soldier and the victim was also a member of the armed forces. These facts take this case out of the limitation imposed on military jurisdiction by the O’Callahan case.

As a corollary to his assertion that the military was without jurisdiction, the appellant contends that he was denied his constitutional right to a jury trial. It is clear, however, that if the military courts have jurisdiction over the person and the subject matter, there is no constitutional right to a jury trial. Kinsella v. United States ex rel. Singleton, 361 U.S. 234, 80 S.Ct. 297, 4 L.Ed. 2d 268; Reid v. Covert, 351 U.S. 487, 76 S.Ct. 880, 100 L.Ed. 1352. Having concluded that the military had jurisdiction over the appellant and the offense, we must hold that the appellant was not entitled to trial by jury.

In Burns v. Wilson, 346 U.S. 137, 73 S.Ct. 1045, 97 L.Ed. 1508, the Court enunciated the rule that the limited function of the civil courts in reviewing a military conviction on a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, in addition to the jurisdictional issues under the prior rule, is to determine whether the military gave fair consideration to each of the petitioner’s constitutional claims. See also Suttles v.

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Billie Joe King v. R. I. Moseley, Warden
430 F.2d 732 (Tenth Circuit, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
430 F.2d 732, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 7771, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/billie-joe-king-v-r-i-moseley-warden-ca10-1970.