Peterson v. Johnson

569 F. Supp. 1467, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14325
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedAugust 25, 1983
DocketCiv. A. No. 82-73745
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 569 F. Supp. 1467 (Peterson v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peterson v. Johnson, 569 F. Supp. 1467, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14325 (E.D. Mich. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

FEIKENS, Chief Judge.

Petitioner, Ronald Lee Peterson, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution, Milan, Michigan, has filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Petitioner challenges his 1980 court martial conviction for rape, contending that the military courts lacked jurisdiction. I find that the military courts exercised proper jurisdiction, and therefore deny issuance of the writ.

On August 28, 1979, petitioner was on active duty in the United States Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton, California. The unrebutted evidence adduced at trial showed that on August 28, 1979, petitioner had sexual intercourse with Mary Alice Whann, a 23-year old female who was not his wife. The prosecution evidence which convicted petitioner indicated that on that date, Mary Alice Whann accompanied her mother, her younger brother and sister and several of her mother’s friends to a campsite located on the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton. While at the campsite, Miss Whann met petitioner and a private Brian Bushnell. In the presence of her younger sister, Miss Whann, petitioner, and Bushnell talked for an hour or longer in the campsite area. According to Miss Whann, they conversed about marine experiences and future plans. At about 10:30 p.m., petitioner asked Miss Whann to accompany him on a walk on the beach. Petitioner persuaded Miss Whann to sit with him on the sand where they began kissing and petitioner fondled her breasts. Up to this point Miss Whann willingly participated; however, when petitioner attempted to unsnap her jeans, she resisted replying, “No way, man.” Using force and despite her protest, petitioner proceeded to rape Miss Whann.

Because of the pain from physical abuse, Miss Whann proceeded slowly back to the trailer camp accompanied by petitioner who struck up a conversation similar to their initial conversation. As soon as they approached the campsite, Miss Whann ran and hid behind a trailer hoping to escape petitioner. She called to a Kay Moynahan who went behind the trailer to talk to her. Kay Moynahan testified that she found Miss Whann sobbing, trembling, and speaking hysterically in a shrill, tense voice. When Miss Whann entered her mother’s trailer, she said, “Mom, he hurt me. He raped me.” Dr. Carlos Schmidt examined her three hours later and found that she suffered lacerations on the neck, elbows and knees, and lacerations on the ends of her labia, with abrasions in the cervix. The doctor concluded that the vagina injury was caused by vigorous sexual intercourse.

On October 31, 1979, December 19, 1979, January 31, 1980, February 19, 1980, and February 20, 1980, petitioner was tried by general court martial at Camp Pendleton, California. He requested and was granted trial before a military judge who found him guilty of rape and sentenced him to confinement at hard labor for fifteen years, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction to the pay grade of E-l, and dishonorable discharge. On May 14, 1980, the convening authority approved the sentence. On September 11, 1980, the United States Naval Court of Military Review affirmed the findings but reduced the sentence to ten years. On December 17, 1981, the Naval Clemency and Parole Board denied petitioner’s clemency request and his request for restoration to active duty. On January 4, 1982, the United States Court of Military Appeals denied petitioner’s request for review.

Petitioner seeks a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, claiming that the military court which convicted him was without jurisdiction. The United States Supreme Court has held that for a military court to have jurisdiction, the crime at issue must have been “service connected.” [1469]*1469O’Callahan v. Parker, Warden, 395 U.S. 258, 89 S.Ct. 1683, 23 L.Ed.2d 291 (1969). In Relford v. Commandant, U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, Ft. Leavenworth, 401 U.S. 355, 91 S.Ct. 649, 28 L.Ed.2d 102 (1971), the Supreme Court refined the analysis for determining whether a service connection exists. In Relford the petitioner kidnaped and raped two civilian women. One of the women was visiting her brother at a military base, the other was a civilian employee on the base. Both rapes took place on the base, but while petitioner was off duty and in civilian clothing. In deciding whether the criminal acts in question were service connected, the Court applied an ad hoc approach in which twelve factors were considered:

1. The serviceman’s proper absence from the base.
2. The crime’s commission away from the base.
3. Its commission at a place not under military control.
4. Its commission within our territorial limits and not in an occupied zone of a foreign country.
5. Its commission in peacetime and its being unrelated to authority stemming from the war power.
6. The absence of any connection between the defendant’s military duties and the crime.
7. The victim’s not being engaged in the performance of any duty relating to the military.
8. The presence and availability of a civilian court in which the case can be prosecuted.
9. The absence of any flouting of military authority.
10. The absence of any threat to a military post.
11. The absence of any violation of military property.
12. The offense’s being among those traditionally prosecuted in civilian courts.

Id. at 365, 91 S.Ct. at 655. Based upon a weighing of these factors the Court was able to “readily conclude” that the crimes charged were triable by a military court. Id. at 367, 91 S.Ct. at 656. In so finding, the Court stressed:

(a) The essential and obvious interest of the military in the security of persons and of property on the military enclave. ...
(b) The responsibility of the military commander for maintenance of order in his command and his authority to maintain that order.... (c) The impact and adverse effect that a crime committed against a person or property on a military base, thus violating the base’s very security, has upon morale, discipline, reputation and integrity of the base itself, upon its personnel and upon the military operation and the military mission, (d) The conviction that Art. I, § 8, cl. 14, vesting in the Congress the power “To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces,” means, in appropriate areas beyond the purely military offense, more than the mere power to arrest a serviceman offender and turn him over to the civil authorities. The term “Regulation” itself implies, for those appropriate cases, the power to try and to punish, (e) The distinct possibility that civil courts, particularly nonfederal courts, will have less than complete interest, concern, and capacity for all the cases that vindicate the military’s disciplinary authority within its own community. See W.

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Bluebook (online)
569 F. Supp. 1467, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14325, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peterson-v-johnson-mied-1983.