Schneider v. Tillery

998 F. Supp. 1210, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4370, 1998 WL 156773
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedMarch 26, 1998
DocketNo. 94-3478-RDR
StatusPublished

This text of 998 F. Supp. 1210 (Schneider v. Tillery) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schneider v. Tillery, 998 F. Supp. 1210, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4370, 1998 WL 156773 (D. Kan. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ROGERS, Senior District Judge.

This matter is before the court on a petition for habeas corpus filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 by a military inmate formerly housed at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Petitioner brings this action following his conviction of attempted premeditated murder and conduct unbecoming an officer, namely, adultery and perjury. The respondent filed an Answer and Return (Doc. 6), and petitioner filed a traverse (Doc. 9). Having examined the record, the court enters the following order.

Factual and Procedural Background

The relevant facts appear in United States v. Schneider, 38 M.J. 387, 389-90 (C.M.A.1993):

In 1987, appellant moved to California with his wife and two children, pursuant to his assignment to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. At the Laboratory, he worked with a woman named Paula, and by April 1989, their relationship had become sexual.
In 1989 appellant was assigned to attend the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and moved with his family into government quarters there. In August 1989, he met with an insurance agent and purchased an additional $150,000 in life insurance coverage on his wife. He was the beneficiary of this policy, which had an effective • date of October 1, 1989. That same summer, appellant sold the former family home in California and used the proceeds to purchase a home in Tracy, California; he convinced his wife that her name should not be on the deed. He then spent' Labor Day weekend with Paula in California.
The incident out of which the specification of attempted murder arose occurred on October 20, 1989. That night, appellant’s wife awoke with intense pain in her head and was pulled to a sitting position in her bed. She saw appellant, visibly shaken, standing next to the bed. The toilet tank lid from the bathroom lay broken on the floor near his feet. She felt a baseball-sized lump on her head, which was “oozing.” She brushed small pieces of porcelain from her hair. He then assisted her to the bathroom, and she sat on the toilet. When she began shaking, he helped her to the bathroom floor and covered her with a quilt. Appellant told his wife, repeatedly, “You must have hit your head.” Although appellant suggested taking her to a doctor, his wife wanted only to go back to bed. The next morning, he took her to the medical facility and there told medical personnel that Debbie was sleepwalking, picked up the toilet tank lid, tripped, and hit her head. Other evidence at trial, how: ever, indicated that his wife had never walked in her sleep, [footnote omitted] Two weeks later, on November 4, appellant and his wife were to attend the Armor Ball. Appellant'made arrangements for a “romantic” night at Embassy Suites Hotel, [footnote omitted]. At appellant’s insistence, he and his wife left prior to the end of the ball in order to go to the hotel. Upon arriving, appellant learned that, although he had asked for an eighth-floor room when making reservations, he was given a room on the seventh floor instead. They nonetheless took the elevator to the eighth floor, where they were observed by [1212]*1212two 16-year-old girls. The girls saw appellant and his wife walk side by side down the hallway. One girl then saw appellant make vigorous hand movements in front of his wife as she faced him with her back to a rail overlooking an interior courtyard. The girl observed appellant put his left arm around his wife at the point where the rail met her back, put his right hand on her chest, and flip her over the rail. The wife fell some 70 or 80 feet, and hit a table on the atrium floor. The girl watched appellant look over the railing, say (“he didn’t yell”) “for someone to call an ambulance,” then walk to the elevator, and walk back to the railing. He then walked back to the elevator and proceeded down. When he reached the atrium floor, appellant was cool and collected. His wife’s pelvis was fractured in thirteen places; both left and right femurs were broken in several places; a bone penetrated her abdominal cavity, damaging her colon; and an ankle and several ribs were fractured.
On December 4, one month after the ball and two days after his wife returned home from the hospital, appellant told his wife that he did not love her any more and was getting a divorce. On December 5, he admitted to police that he had had an affair with Paula and that he loved her and hoped to marry her when his divorce was final.

Missouri state authorities charged petitioner with first-degree assault for the events at the hotel. Petitioner testified in the state court' proceedings that he accidentally dropped his wife over the railing and did not intend to injure her. He was acquitted on this charge. After the state proceedings ended, military authorities brought charges of attempted premeditated murder, based on the toilet tank lid incident, and conduct unbecoming an officer.

Petitioner was tried by a general court-martial composed of officer members at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on September 28, October 15, and November 13-17, 1990. He was convicted of one specification of attempted murder and two specification of conduct unbecoming an officer.

Following the court-martial proceedings, petitioner was sentenced to dismissal, confinement for 23 years, and total forfeitures. The convening authority approved the sentence but suspended forfeitures in excess of $400.00, with the suspended forfeitures to be paid to petitioner’s ex-wife.

The Army Court of Military Review affirmed the findings and sentence, United States v. Schneider, 34 M.J. 639 (A.C.M.R. 1992); and the United States Court of Military appeals affirmed. United States v. Schneider, 38 M.J. 387 (C.M.A.1993), cert. denied, 511 U.S. 1106, 114 S.Ct. 2100, 128 L.Ed.2d 662 (1994).

Discussion

Petitioner seeks habeas corpus relief on four grounds: first, the court-martial lacked jurisdiction due to the presence of a panel member who was junior in rank to him; second, the conviction of adultery violates due process because the government failed to establish that a crime was committed; third, the conviction of perjury violates due process because it was collaterally estopped by acquittal in the Missouri state courts; and fourth, the sentence violates the Tenth Amendment to the extent it imposes fines and payments beyond the terms of the civilian divorce decree.

Standard of review

A federal court has limited authority to review court-martial proceedings in habeas corpus. The scope of review is initially limited to determining whether the claims raised by the petitioner were given full and fair consideration by the military courts. Lips v. Commandant, United States Disciplinary Barracks, 997 F.2d 808 (10th Cir. 1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1091, 114 S.Ct. 920, 127 L.Ed.2d 213 (1994). If the issues have been given full and fair consideration in the military courts, the district court should not reach the merits and should deny the petition. Id.

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Related

Burns v. Wilson
346 U.S. 137 (Supreme Court, 1953)
Michael C. Watson v. Colonel O.L. McCotter
782 F.2d 143 (Tenth Circuit, 1986)
United States v. Cuellar
27 M.J. 50 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1988)
United States v. Cowan
34 M.J. 258 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1992)
United States v. Schneider
34 M.J. 639 (U.S. Army Court of Military Review, 1992)
United States v. Schneider
38 M.J. 387 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1993)
Remington v. United States
476 U.S. 1184 (Supreme Court, 1986)
McNabb v. Cavazos
493 U.S. 811 (Supreme Court, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
998 F. Supp. 1210, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4370, 1998 WL 156773, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schneider-v-tillery-ksd-1998.