Timothy Ducharme v. Commonwealth of Virginia

830 S.E.2d 924, 70 Va. App. 668
CourtCourt of Appeals of Virginia
DecidedAugust 6, 2019
Docket0706184
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 830 S.E.2d 924 (Timothy Ducharme v. Commonwealth of Virginia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Timothy Ducharme v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 830 S.E.2d 924, 70 Va. App. 668 (Va. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Present: Judges Petty, Malveaux and Senior Judge Annunziata Argued at Alexandria, Virginia PUBLISHED

TIMOTHY DUCHARME OPINION BY v. Record No. 0706-18-4 JUDGE ROSEMARIE ANNUNZIATA AUGUST 6, 2019 COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF SHENANDOAH COUNTY Dennis L. Hupp, Judge

Charles B. Ramsey for appellant.

Victoria Johnson, Assistant Attorney General (Mark R. Herring, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

A jury found Timothy Ducharme, appellant, guilty of using a communication device to

solicit a minor for the production of child pornography, in violation of Code § 18.2-374.3(B),1

and imposed a fine of $2,500.2 Appellant argues on appeal that the trial court erred in denying

the motion to suppress evidence found on his cell phone and in instructing the jury regarding

proof of the victim’s age. For the following reasons, we affirm appellant’s conviction.

BACKGROUND

Appellant, then twenty-one years of age and a Marine stationed at Quantico, met the

victim, C.R., through an online dating website in February 2016. C.R. testified at trial that a

1 The indictment and the court’s orders stated that appellant was charged and convicted under Code § 18.2-374.3, but in response to defense counsel’s query at the beginning of trial, the prosecutor said that he was proceeding under subsection B of the statute. 2 The trial court granted appellant’s motion to strike a charge of possessing child pornography, and the jury found appellant not guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. friend had established the account without her permission and had represented that C.R. was

eighteen years old. C.R., in fact, was fifteen years old.3 Appellant and C.R. exchanged phone

numbers and began sending text messages.

On April 2, 2016, appellant drove to Shenandoah County to “hang out” with C.R.

However, before they met, C.R. sent him a text message that she was “only 16,” and she

apologized for lying about her age. Appellant responded that they could be friends and offered

to meet with C.R. and her parents, but she said that meeting was not “a good idea.” Appellant

replied, “That’s fine. Take care of yourself sweetheart, it was nice getting to know you a little

bit. You’re a great person. I am leaving now.”

On April 3, 2016, C.R. sent appellant a text asking him to call her. Appellant testified

that during the ensuing phone conversation, C.R. told him that she was eighteen years old but

had said that she was sixteen because she was nervous about meeting him. At trial, C.R. denied

telling appellant that she was eighteen, but she acknowledged that they had resumed texting each

other.

In several messages on April 11, 2016, appellant asked C.R. to send him “sexy” pictures

of herself. Appellant asked C.R., “Baby are you gonna show me how sexy you are in the

bathtub?” He said that he “want[ed] to see everything.” C.R. sent appellant two photographs of

her breasts and genitalia. Appellant replied that C.R. had “beautiful legs,” and “adorable”

genitalia.

Appellant returned to Shenandoah County about 3:00 a.m. on April 17, 2016, and spent

two hours with C.R. in his truck, parked outside her grandparents’ home. Before appellant

arrived, C.R. sent him text messages that she was eager to meet him. She also sent him a

3 C.R. was born in July 2000. -2- message that said, “I hope if it’s okay if we don’t have sex tonight but we can do other stuff.”

C.R. testified that appellant put his penis in her mouth, but appellant denied doing so.

C.R. reported her relationship with appellant to Investigator Robert Poe of the

Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Office on April 18, 2016. Although she did not know appellant’s

full name, she provided enough identifying information for law enforcement authorities to

determine that appellant was a Marine stationed at Quantico.

Special Agent Gabriel Henson of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)

prepared an affidavit under oath on April 19, 2016, requesting a “Command Search

Authorization,” the military equivalent of a search warrant, to search appellant’s residence and

his cell phone. The affidavit recited Henson’s training and experience and C.R.’s allegations

against appellant. Military procedure for obtaining authorization to search required that

appellant’s immediate commanding officer, or in his absence, a higher ranking officer in the

chain of command, make a finding of probable cause. Appellant’s immediate commander was

not on base, so Henson gave his affidavit to the military attorney assigned to the general in the

chain of command. The attorney privately discussed the affidavit with the general by video

teleconference and also emailed him the affidavit. After the general authorized the search,

Henson acquired appellant’s cell phone, extracted the contents, and gave the information to

Investigator Poe.

Appellant then was indicted, tried, and convicted in the Shenandoah County Circuit

Court. This appeal followed.

ANALYSIS

Motion to Suppress

Appellant moved to suppress the evidence extracted from his cell phone on the grounds

that the evidence was obtained without a search warrant or his consent. Appellant argued that

-3- because he was being tried in a state court rather than a military tribunal, local law enforcement

officers should have sought a civilian search warrant rather than using military procedures.

Appellant also argued that the general and his attorney who had reviewed the authorization to

search had not been “neutral and detached,” as required by the Fourth Amendment. In support of

his argument, appellant noted that paragraph four of the affidavit referred to a different

defendant, a different victim, and a different crime. Special Agent Henson testified at the

suppression hearing that paragraph four contained typographical errors but that the other parts of

the affidavit correctly referred to appellant. While acknowledging that the errors in paragraph

four were unintentional, appellant contended that the affidavit was not reviewed carefully

because the errors were either not noticed or not corrected.

Following a hearing on the motion, the trial judge requested that the parties submit briefs

addressing whether military rules of evidence would apply in a state court case, whether the

exclusionary rule applied in a military tribunal,4 and whether a commanding officer “occup[ied]

the same place as a neutral detached magistrate if we’re applying the [F]ourth [A]mendment.”

After reviewing the briefs, the trial court denied the motion to suppress. The court concluded

that appellant had subjected himself to the code of military justice by voluntarily entering the

Marine Corps and that there had been no showing that the applicable military procedure to

authorize the search had not been followed.

On appeal, appellant argues that military procedures for obtaining a search warrant

should not have applied in his case because he was tried in state court and the search warrant

should have been obtained by a state police officer from a state court judge. He also argues that

the affidavit prepared by Special Agent Henson was not reviewed by a neutral and detached

4 Special Agent Henson told the trial judge that the exclusionary rule applied in military tribunals. See Mil. R. Evid. 311(b)(3)(C); United States v. Chapman,

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Bluebook (online)
830 S.E.2d 924, 70 Va. App. 668, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/timothy-ducharme-v-commonwealth-of-virginia-vactapp-2019.