Moses v. United States

137 Ct. Cl. 374, 1957 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 160, 1957 WL 8298
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJanuary 16, 1957
DocketNo. 122-55
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 137 Ct. Cl. 374 (Moses v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moses v. United States, 137 Ct. Cl. 374, 1957 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 160, 1957 WL 8298 (cc 1957).

Opinion

JONES, Chief Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a suit for Army pay and allowances.

Plaintiff, on February 23, 1950, enlisted in the Regular Army of the United States for a three-year period, which was extended one month, making the expiration date March 23, 1953.

On February 10,1953, he was placed in confinement pending disposition of 12 larceny charges against him. He was tried by general court-martial at Fort Hood, Texas, April 1, 1953. He was found guilty on each of the 12 charges and, after approval by the Commanding General, was sentenced to be dishonorably discharged from the service, to forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and to be confined at hard labor for a period of two years.

The case was then referred to a Board of Review in the office of the Judge Advocate General of the Army, which held that because of certain errors, set out in our finding 2, the verdict should be and was set aside and a rehearing was ordered on July 6,1953.

A formal general court-martial order was entered July 17,1953, by the Commanding General officially setting aside the previous verdict and directing a rehearing before another court-martial to be thereafter designated. On July 21,1953, plaintiff’s case was referred by the Commanding General to another general court-martial.

On July 20, 1953, plaintiff, through his civilian counsel, filed a motion for a rehearing before the Board of Review asking a reconsideration and dismissal on the ground that [376]*376the evidence was legally insufficient. The motion was denied.

The second and different general court-martial heard plaintiff’s case on the same charges and he was again found guilty on all the charges and specifications.

Before the actual arraignment and before plaintiff had pleaded to the charges on July 31,1953, the plaintiff’s attorney advised the court by plea that plaintiff had on July 30, 1953, deposited in the registered United States mail a petition for grant of review by the United States Court of Military Appeals of the Board of Review’s action in connection with the first trial; that the petition was enclosed in an envelope addressed to the Judge Advocate General of the Army with a request that same be forwarded to the Court of Military Appeals and that the petition for grant of review had not been denied by the Court of Military Appeals. The plea, which is set out in finding 6, then prayed for a finding that the second general court-martial was without jurisdiction.

The plea was overruled.

The letter containing the petition had been mailed at the post office in Waco, Texas, on July 30, 1953, to the Judge Advocate General. It was received in the office of the Judge Advocate General on August 5, 1953. Before that date the trial by the second general court-martial had been completed.

The plaintiff’s petition for grant of review was forwarded by the Judge Advocate General to the Court of Military Appeals.

On August 14, 1953, the plaintiff filed a motion with the Court of Military Appeals stating that he no longer desired to prosecute his petition for grant of review and asked that his petition be dismissed. The motion was granted and the appeal dismissed on September 2,1953.

On September 3, 1953, the convening authority approved the findings and sentence of the second general court-martial. A Board of Review subsequently affirmed the findings and sentence which were substantially the same as those found by the first general court-martial.

Plaintiff filed a petition with the Court of Military Appeals to grant a review of the findings of the second general court-martial. The motion was denied.

[377]*377Plaintiff remained in confinement until August 23, 1954, when he was dishonorably discharged from the Army. He was under physical control of the Army until that date.

Plaintiff sues for pay and allowances from April 1, 1953, to August 23,1954.

Plaintiff’s first proposition is that since Congress had conferred on the United States Court of Military Appeals the right to grant a review and to review a case of the kind here involved, and that since an application by plaintiff for a review by the court had been deposited in the mail prior to the actual beginning of the second general court-martial trial, the latter was wholly without jurisdiction and the second general court-martial trial and conviction of plaintiff was therefore void.

Plaintiff’s second proposition is that he remained in the United States Army until legally discharged regardless of the fact that his period of enlistment had expired and that he was therefore entitled to pay and allowances at least until they were forfeited by the general court-martial proceeding of August 1,1953.

The defendant responds that if a court-martial proceeding is duly constituted, has jurisdiction of the person accused and of the offense charged and acts within its lawful authority, its decision is not subject to collateral attack or judicial review by the civil courts. It further answers that the record does not show that the second general court-martial proceeding which heard plaintiff’s case did not meet these requirements and that it did in fact meet such requirements and that plaintiff therefore has not been deprived of his rights.

The facts have been stipulated.

It will be noted that the trial and sentence of the first general court-martial proceeding was set aside by the Board of Beview for certain errors in connection with the proceeding and a new trial was ordered by a second and different general court-martial. This order for a new trial was entered at the time the original court-martial was set aside, to wit, July 6, 1953, and a formal order for another court-martial proceeding was entered July 17, 1953, and the trial set for July 31, 1953.

[378]*378On the day before the actual beginning of the second general court-martial proceeding plaintiff’s attorney, on July 30, 1953, deposited in the mail a petition for a grant of review by the United States Court of Military Appeals. This petition was addressed to the Judge Advocate General, was received by him some four days after the second general court-martial proceeding had been finished and was in due course forwarded to the Court of Military Appeals. According to the established code it was proper to send an application of this kind through these channels. Article 67 of the Uniform Code of Military Appeals (50 U. S. C. 654) contains the following provision:

(b) The Court of Military Appeals shall review the record in the following cases:
(1) All cases in which the sentence, as affirmed by a board of review, affects a general or flag officer or extends to death;
(2) All cases reviewed by a board of review which The Judge Advocate General orders forwarded to the Court of Military Appeals for review; and
(3) All cases reviewed by a board of review in which, upon petition of the accused and on good cause shown, the Court of Military Appeals has granted a review.
(c) The accused shall have thirty days from the time he is notified of the decision of a board of review to petition the Court of Military Appeals for a grant of review.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
137 Ct. Cl. 374, 1957 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 160, 1957 WL 8298, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moses-v-united-states-cc-1957.