United States v. Anzalone

40 M.J. 658, 1994 CMR LEXIS 497, 1994 WL 372224
CourtU.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review
DecidedJune 20, 1994
DocketNMCM 91 3214
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 40 M.J. 658 (United States v. Anzalone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Anzalone, 40 M.J. 658, 1994 CMR LEXIS 497, 1994 WL 372224 (usnmcmilrev 1994).

Opinion

REED, Senior Judge:

The appellant is a Marine charged with a variety of offenses arising, primarily, out of his contact with a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who appellant believed was a Soviet Union intelligence officer. As a result of this contact, appellant was charged and convicted, despite his pleas, of attempted conspiracy to commit espionage, attempted violation of a lawful general order by failing to report contact with a person he believed to be a Soviet agent, two violations of a lawful general order by failing to report actual contact with Soviet members of the U.S.S.R. Embassy, two violations of Article 1121.2, U.S. Navy Regulations (1990) by improperly disclosing information about military forces to others and by wrongfully mailing similar information to others, attempted espionage on two occasions, 4 violations of 18 U.S.C. § 793 (espionage statute), and a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1717, in violation of Articles 80, 92, 106a, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice [UCMJ], respectively, 10 U.S.C. §§ 880, 892, 906a, 934. Appellant was also found guilty of the wrongful possession and use of marijuana and adultery in violation of Articles 112a and 134, UCMJ, respectively, [660]*66010 U.S.C. §§ 912a and 934, but these offenses are unrelated to the attempted espionage. No assignment of error concerning these offenses is alleged, and we find none. Appellant was sentenced to reduction to pay grade E-l, confinement for 15 years, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge. The convening authority approved the sentence as adjudged.

Appellant alleges numerous assignments of error regarding the espionage offenses and also attacks the jurisdiction of this court to act.1 Generally, we find the assignments of error to be without merit, except in one noteworthy aspect, for we hold that attempted conspiracy is not a viable offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. We will discuss appellant’s assignments of error, seriatim. Prior to that, a brief exposition of the facts is needed.

FACTS

Appellant was a corporal assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron 371 located at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS), Yuma, Arizona. During mid-November 1990, appellant twice telephoned the Embassy of the Soviet Union. The Naval Investigative Service learned of the calls and initiated contact with appellant to determine if he posed a risk to national security. An FBI agent approached appellant posing as a Soviet intelligence officer named Mikhail (Mike) and a relationship between the two developed that resulted in most of the charges currently before this Court. As a result of telephone calls and an actual meeting between the two, the appellant gathered and transmitted to the undercover agent national defense information, which included, among other things, the procedures and operations of the Weapons/Ordnance Area guard, the characteristics and appearance of the identification badge needed to gain access to the Yuma flight line, which was a restricted area, and two communications/cryptographic manuals restricted “For Official Use Only.”

[661]*661 ANALYSIS

I.

In his first assignment of error, appellant alleges that he was not predisposed to commit the espionage offenses, citing Jacobson v. United States, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1535, 118 L.Ed.2d 174 (1992), and was thus entrapped by the Government. We disagree with appellant.

Rule for Courts-Martial [R.C.M.] 916(g) provides that “[i]t is a defense that the criminal design or suggestion to commit the offense originated in the Government and the accused had no predisposition to commit the offense.” The first element is referred to as the inducement element and the second as the predisposition element. The evidence of record establishes for us, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the Government did not induce the misconduct with which we are herein concerned. In fact, the appellant initiated the contact with the Soviet Embassy and the Government followed-up only after learning of the initial contacts. Appellant had commenced his scheme to obtain a “scholarship,” i.e., money, in return for information when the Government intervened.

Even if we were to find that the Government induced the misconduct, which we do not, we also find that the appellant was disposed to commit the offenses.

As the Court of Military Appeals has noted regarding the element of predisposition, this element

may be shown circumstantially by introducing evidence of the following: accused merely afforded opportunity to commit the crime, Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 372, 78 S.Ct. 819, 820, 2 L.Ed.2d 848 (1958); a single invitation without any fraud or trickery, United States v. Suter, 21 USCMA 510, 515, 45 CMR 284, 289, 1972 WL 14176 (1972); informant not a friend of accused, United States v. McGlenn, 8 USCMA 286, 24 CMR 96, 1957 WL 4711 (1957); a profit motive, United States v. Hebert, 1 MJ 84 (CMA 1975); or a ready response to informant’s initial suggestion, United States v. Williams, 3 MJ 555 (ACMR 1977), rev’d on other grounds, 4 MJ 336. (CMA 1978).

United States v. Cooper, 35 M.J. 417, 425 (C.M.A.1992). Of course, as the U.S. Supreme Court noted in Jacobson, when “the defense of entrapment is at issue, ... the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant was disposed to commit the criminal act prior to first being approached by Government agents.” Id. at -, 112 S.Ct. at 1540.

We have carefully examined transcripts of all of the conversations between the FBI agent and appellant, both those that occurred in person and those over the telephone, as well as the classified information that is a matter of record. We note that appellant made two telephone calls to the Soviet Embassy prior to being approached by an FBI agent posing as a Soviet intelligence officer. It is clear to us that appellant desired to obtain money in return for providing information to the Soviets. He did not notify military authorities of his contact with Soviet Embassy personnel, even though regulations required such notification. When approached by Mike, appellant quickly agreed to a surreptitious meeting, and readily provided information and knowledge he had of military organizations and operations and attempted to provide any additional information requested, including a flight line identification badge and cryptographic manuals.

The evidence of record establishes beyond any reasonable doubt that the criminal design to commit the offenses originated with appellant, that he was predisposed to commit espionage, and that he needed only the opportunity, which the FBI provided, to consummate the offense. See United States v. Vanzandt, 14 M.J. 332 (C.M.A.1982). We find no entrapment.

II.

In his second assignment of error, appellant alleges that the Heine

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Related

United States v. Terry
52 M.J. 574 (Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals, 1999)
United States v. Riddle
44 M.J. 282 (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 1996)
United States v. Anzalone
43 M.J. 322 (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 1995)
United States v. Riddle
41 M.J. 673 (Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
40 M.J. 658, 1994 CMR LEXIS 497, 1994 WL 372224, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-anzalone-usnmcmilrev-1994.