BROWN v. KENDALL

CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedMarch 27, 2023
Docket1:22-cv-00410
StatusUnknown

This text of BROWN v. KENDALL (BROWN v. KENDALL) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
BROWN v. KENDALL, (D. Md. 2023).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

JAMIE L. BROWN, *

Petitioner, *

v. * Civ. No. DLB-22-410

FRANK KENDALL, et al., *

Respondents. *

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Jamie L. Brown filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, challenging the validity of his court-martial by the United States Air Force (the “Air Force”). ECF 1 & 4. The respondents, Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Air Force, and Thomas Shubert, President of the Air Force Clemency & Parole Board, move to dismiss the petition. ECF 16. The motion is fully briefed. ECF 18 & 21. No hearing is necessary. See Loc. R. 105.6 (D. Md. 2021). For the following reasons, the petition is dismissed for failure to state a claim. I. Background

On March 22, 2019, Brown, a former enlisted member of the Air Force, was convicted by general court-martial of one specification of attempted sexual assault and one specification of sexual assault, in violation of Articles 80 and 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (“UCMJ”), 10 U.S.C. §§ 880, 920. ECF 1, at 23. The charges involved a sexual encounter with a female Air Force member, identified as “NM,” who alleged that she was too intoxicated to consent. Id. at 13–22. Brown was sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, confinement for 34 months, and reduction to the grade of E-4. Id. at 23. Brown timely appealed the decision to the U.S. Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals (“AFCCA”), which affirmed the conviction on August 16, 2021. Id.; ECF 16-4, 50–85, AR 000289–324.1 He then appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (“CAAF”), which declined to hear the case on January 5, 2022. ECF 1, at 23; ECF 16-2, AR 000067. On January 18, 2022, he filed this petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. At the time of his filing, Brown was on parole. ECF 1, at 12. The respondents filed a motion to dismiss the petition on July 29, 2022. ECF 16.

II. Standard of Review The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure apply in habeas corpus proceedings “to the extent that the practice in those proceedings[] is not specified in a federal statute, the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases, or the Rules Governing Section 2255 Cases[] and has previously conformed to the practice in civil actions.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 81(a)(4). A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) “tests the legal sufficiency” of a pleading and “should be granted unless the [pleading] ‘states a plausible claim for relief.’” In re Birmingham, 846 F.3d 88, 92 (4th Cir.), as amended (Jan. 20, 2017) (quoting Walters v. McMahen, 684 F.3d 435, 439 (4th Cir. 2012)). The Court’s review of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion typically is limited to the pleadings, documents attached to them, and the

parties’ briefs. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), 12(d); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 10(c). The Court also may consider judicially noticed facts, public records such as court cases, and documents integral to and explicitly relied on in the pleading. Zak v. Chelsea Therapeutics Int’l, Ltd., 780 F.3d 597, 607 (4th Cir. 2015). Thus, the Court may consider “the record created by the military courts as well as the factual findings of the court-martial” attached to the respondents’ motion to dismiss. See U.S. ex rel. New v. Rumsfeld, 350 F. Supp. 2d 80, 89 (D.D.C. 2004); Woods v. Mayorkas, No.

1 Where appropriate, the Court cites to the page numbers generated by its electronic filing system (CM/ECF) and the page numbers provided in the Administrative Record (“AR”). SAG-21-519, 2021 WL 3681165, at *3 (D. Md. Aug. 19, 2021) (considering “filings from the related pending court-martial proceedings” on a motion to dismiss a § 2241 petition). Section 2241 authorizes the federal district courts to grant writs of habeas corpus to persons who are “in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States[,]” among other circumstances. 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(3). The statute’s reach extends to “applications

for habeas corpus from persons confined by the military courts.” Ward v. United States, 982 F.3d 906, 912 (4th Cir. 2020) (quoting Burns v. Wilson, 346 U.S. 137, 139 (1953)). But “in military habeas corpus[,] the inquiry, the scope of matters open for review, has always been more narrow than in civil cases.” Burns, 346 U.S. at 139. Generally, federal civil review of court-martial proceedings is limited to whether (1) military jurisdiction was proper and (2) the military gave full and fair consideration to a petitioner’s constitutional claims. Fricke v. Sec’y of Navy, 509 F.3d 1287, 1289–90 (10th Cir. 2007) (citing Burns, 346 U.S. at 142). The judgment of a military court is “always open to collateral attack” on the question of jurisdiction, and that is the traditional basis for federal habeas review of court-martial proceedings.

Givens v. Zerbst, 255 U.S. 11, 19 (1921); see Fricke, 509 F.3d at 1289. This is so because “a military court is a statutory creation, vested with special and limited jurisdiction[.]” Willenbring v. United States, 559 F.3d 225, 231 (4th Cir. 2009) (citing Runkle v. United States, 122 U.S. 543, 555 (1887)). “As a result, a court-martial proceeding must be convened and constituted in conformity with the applicable statutes, specifically the UCMJ; otherwise the military court lacks jurisdiction.” Id. (citing McClaughry v. Deming, 186 U.S. 49, 62 (1902)). In addition to jurisdictional challenges, federal courts may review constitutional claims in military habeas cases if the military courts have not “dealt fully and fairly” with such claims. Burns, 346 U.S. at 142. The Fourth Circuit “has yet to enunciate the exact standard governing collateral attacks” in such cases, but many of the circuit’s district courts, including this Court, have adopted the Tenth Circuit’s test for determining when non-jurisdictional habeas review of military convictions is appropriate.2 Chinchilla v. Whitley, No. 3:20cv871-HEH, 2021 WL 1792075, at *3 (E.D. Va. May 5, 2021) (collecting cases), aff’d, No. 21-1731, 2022 WL 3136940 (4th Cir. Aug. 5, 2022) (unpublished); Miller v. Air Force Clemency & Parole Bd., No. JFM-10-2621, 2011 WL

4402497, at *8 (D. Md. Sept. 20, 2011), aff’d, 472 F. App’x 210 (4th Cir. 2012) (unpublished).

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Related

Runkle v. United States
122 U.S. 543 (Supreme Court, 1887)
McClaughry v. Deming
186 U.S. 49 (Supreme Court, 1902)
Givens v. Zerbst
255 U.S. 11 (Supreme Court, 1921)
Burns v. Wilson
346 U.S. 137 (Supreme Court, 1953)
Jones v. Cunningham
371 U.S. 236 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Carafas v. LaVallee
391 U.S. 234 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Sibron v. New York
392 U.S. 40 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Rumsfeld v. Padilla
542 U.S. 426 (Supreme Court, 2004)
Roberts v. Callahan
321 F.3d 994 (Tenth Circuit, 2003)
Fricke v. Secretary of the Navy
509 F.3d 1287 (Tenth Circuit, 2007)
Thomas v. United States Disciplinary Barracks
625 F.3d 667 (Tenth Circuit, 2010)
Kanai v. McHugh
638 F.3d 251 (Fourth Circuit, 2011)
Michael C. Watson v. Colonel O.L. McCotter
782 F.2d 143 (Tenth Circuit, 1986)
Rafi Dhakaa Khan v. Col. William L. Hart
943 F.2d 1261 (Tenth Circuit, 1991)
Bizzie Walters v. Todd McMahen
684 F.3d 435 (Fourth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Poole
531 F.3d 263 (Fourth Circuit, 2008)
Willenbring v. United States
559 F.3d 225 (Fourth Circuit, 2009)
Jefferson v. Berrong
783 F. Supp. 1304 (D. Kansas, 1992)
United States Ex Rel. New v. Rumsfeld
350 F. Supp. 2d 80 (District of Columbia, 2004)

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