United States v. Bailey

52 M.J. 786, 1999 CCA LEXIS 320, 1999 WL 1565192
CourtUnited States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedDecember 16, 1999
DocketACM 32898
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 52 M.J. 786 (United States v. Bailey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Bailey, 52 M.J. 786, 1999 CCA LEXIS 320, 1999 WL 1565192 (afcca 1999).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

SPISAK, Senior Judge:

Our original opinion in this case was unpublished. That opinion is hereby withdrawn.

On 25 May 1997, a general court-martial consisting of officer and enlisted members, convicted the appellant of rape, sodomy, aggravated assault, battery, making a false statement, kidnapping, communicating threats, obstructing justice, disorderly conduct, and unlawful entry, in violation of Articles 120, 125, 128, 107, and 134, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. §§ 920, 925, 928, 907, 934. His approved sentence consists of a dishonorable discharge, confinement for 30 years, reduction to airman basic, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a reprimand.

The appellant asserts seven errors for our consideration. First he complains that Military Rule of Evidence (Mil.R.Evid.) 413 is unconstitutional, both on its face and as applied to his case, because it violates the Due Process Clause of the United States Consti[789]*789tution. Next, he contends that Mil.R.Evid. 413 is unconstitutional, as applied to him, because its application denied him the equal protection of the law. Third, he argues that the military judge abused his discretion by improperly applying Mil.R.Evid. 403. Fourth, he alleges that the military judge abused his discretion by admitting certain evidence under Mil.R.Evid. 404. Fifth, he contends that the evidence was both factually and legally insufficient to support findings of guilty of rape, forcible sodomy and assault of JJ; forcible sodomy of LF; assault of LF; making false statements; communicating a threat to LF; and, obstruction of justice. Sixth, he contends that the disorderly conduct specification failed to state an offense because it did not include “essential acts.” Finally, he asserts that his sentence to confinement for 30 years is inappropriately severe. Finding no error, we affirm.

I. THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF RULE 413

The appellant, recognizing that we resolved his first two asserted errors in United States v. Wright, 48 M.J. 896 (A.F.Ct.Crim. App.1998), asks that we reconsider that decision. Relying only on two law review articles, which he incorrectly assumes we failed to consider in deciding Wright, the appellant argues that we erred and should now correct that error by declaring Mil.R.Evid. 413 unconstitutional.

In support of his equal protection argument, the appellant makes one argument that was not raised in Wright. He contends that because Mil.R.Evid. 412 protects the prior sexual history of a victim from disclosure, while “the comparable sexual history of a charged sex offender is exploited under Mil. R.Evid. 413,” offenders are being treated differently in violation of their right to equal protection of the laws. In order to win such an argument, however, the appellant must first demonstrate that victims and offenders are similarly situated and, therefore, entitled to similar treatment under the law. This he has not done. We, in turn, decline to revisit this and the appellant’s other constitutional challenges to Mil.R.Evid. 413. We will, however, consider whether or not the challenged evidence was properly admitted.

II. APPLICATION OF MIL.R.EVID. 403

Before admitting evidence under Rule 413, the military judge in this case conducted a balancing under Rule 403. The appellant contends that the balancing was inadequate because the military judge did not use the criteria set forth by the Tenth Circuit in United States v. Enjady, 134 F.3d 1427 (10th Cir.1998). He also complains that the military judge’s explanation of how he balanced the competing interests of probative value and prejudice were “cryptic” and “unhelpful.” Again, we disagree with the appellant’s contentions.

In United States v. Dewrell, 52 MJ 601 (A.F.Ct.Crim.App.1999), Chief Judge Snyder concluded that relevancy of prior sex offenses offered under Mil.R.Evid. 413 is all but mandated, but admissibility of that evidence must still be balanced against its prejudicial effect in accordance with Mil.R.Evid. 403. After reaching these conclusions, Chief Judge Snyder established guidelines for military judges to use when applying the Rule 403 balancing test to Rule 413 and 414 evidence. He said that:

the military judge will test for whether the prior acts evidence will have a substantial tendency to cause the members to fail to hold the prosecution to its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt with respect to the charged offenses. It is only when the prior acts evidence is deemed to meet this test that its prejudicial value will be deemed to substantially outweigh the probative value of the prior acts evidence in issue.

Dewrell, 52 M.J. at 609 (citations omitted). Accord Wright, 48 M.J. at 899, n. 1. (the military judge must recognize that there is a presumption in favor of admissibility of Rule 413 evidence.)

Chief Judge Snyder then set forth the primary factors for the military judge to consider when performing the balancing test.

1) Whether the evidence will contribute to the members arriving at a verdict on an improper basis;

[790]*7902) The potential for the prior acts evidence to cause the members to be distracted from the charged offenses; and,

3) How time consuming it will be to prove the prior acts.

Dewrell, 52 M. J. at 609 (citations omitted).

He further instructed that to determine the probative value of the evidence, the military judge should assess the similarities between the prior acts and the charged offenses and the clarity of the witness’ recall of those prior acts. The more clear and firm the witness’ recall, and the more apparent the impact of the alleged prior acts on the witness, the greater the probative value. Even remoteness may be offset by the apparent reliability of the witness. Id. We now apply these principles to the instant case.

At the time of trial, Judge Pope did not have the benefit of our guidance in Dewrell. Nevertheless, he took great pains to find some criteria for balancing the obviously prejudicial impact of the proffered evidence against its equally obvious probative value. Judge Pope chose to apply the criteria recommended by the Judicial Conference for evaluating the admissibility of Rule 413 evidence. See Report of the Judicial Conference of the United States on the Admission of Character Evidence in Certain Sexual Misconduct Cases, 159 F.R.D. 51, 52 (1995), reprinted in 1 Federal Rules at 678-83.

The factors Judge' Pope considered were: (1) proximity in time to the charged event of the matters being offered; (2) similarity to the charged event; (3) rate of frequency of the other acts; (4) surrounding circumstances; (5) relative intervening events; and (6) relevant similarities or differences between the prior acts and charged offenses. Judge Pope’s words and actions during the trial made clear his intent to “prevent the misuse of this information by the panel.” Not only did he decline to admit some of the proffered evidence, he also limited how and to what extent the government could present other parts of that evidence.

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Related

United States v. Saintaude
56 M.J. 888 (Army Court of Criminal Appeals, 2002)
United States v. Bailey
55 M.J. 38 (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
52 M.J. 786, 1999 CCA LEXIS 320, 1999 WL 1565192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-bailey-afcca-1999.