United States v. Bayhand

6 C.M.A. 762, 6 USCMA 762, 21 C.M.R. 84, 1956 CMA LEXIS 290, 1956 WL 4553
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedMarch 30, 1956
DocketNo. 7535
StatusPublished
Cited by62 cases

This text of 6 C.M.A. 762 (United States v. Bayhand) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Military 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. Bayhand, 6 C.M.A. 762, 6 USCMA 762, 21 C.M.R. 84, 1956 CMA LEXIS 290, 1956 WL 4553 (cma 1956).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court

George W. Latimer, Judge:

The accused was found guilty by general court-martial of willful disobedience of a superior officer and willful disobedience of a noncommissioned officer, in violation of Articles 90 and 91 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 50 USC §§ 684 and 685, respectively. He was sentenced to be dishonorably discharged from the service, to forfeit all pay and allowances and to be confined at hard labor for five and one-half years. The convening authority approved the findings and sentence, but reduced the period of confinement to three years. A board of review in the office of The Judge Advocate General of the Army affirmed the conviction, and so much of the sentence as provided for a dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures and confinement for two years. We granted review to determine whether the orders which were disobeyed were legal.

The facts of the case are not complicated. At the time each alleged offense was committed, the accused was in confinement in the Post Stockade, awaiting trial on charges which were subsequently dismissed. The first instance of disobedience arose on April 20, 1955, while he was serving on a work detail under guard, in company with a prisoner who, we can safely assume, had been sentenced to confinement at hard labor by a prior special court-martial. We may make that as[765]*765sumption because of an exhibit — a certified copy of a special court-martial order sentencing the fellow worker to confinement — which the law officer erroneously refused to admit in evidence, but whose contents were not disputed at the trial and are not contested on appeal. The Government has at least tacitly admitted that the exhibit is before us, and if we do not make this assumption, it would be necessary to broaden the issues before us, and, after additional argument, determine the effect of the law officer’s ruling. The accused was furnished with a regular fatigue uniform with a white band around the arm, and the sentenced prisoner working with him was identically clothed. Both men were required to work with picks and shovels; they were being used to change the course of an old ditch; the nature of the work required them to stand in mud and water which reached half way up on their boots; and, for all purposes, the two were performing equivalent duties. There were other prisoners, at least one of whom was a sentenced prisoner, engaged in the same task. After they had been busy for about forty-five minutes, each notified the guard that he refused to work and demanded to be taken to the gate. They were then brought before the confinement officer who gave them an order to return to their task. The accused replied that he refused to work, and his refusal furnished the basis for the offense alleged in the first Charge.

The second alleged offense grew out of the following facts: On May 9,1955, the accused was assigned to duty with a regular work detail in the rock quarry. There were at least twelve prisoners on the detail, and the work was such that it reasonably could be considered as hard labor. The noncommissioned officer in charge ordered the accused to carry heavy rocks to a rockpile and to assist in the loading of a wheelbarrow. Although he complied with the latter part of the order, the accused refused to carry rocks, stating that he would not perform both tasks.

As part of the evidence touching on both offenses, the confinement officer testified that the accused, at the time of the alleged violations, was an un-sentenced prisoner. In addition, he stated that, under the procedure followed in the guardhouse, there was no difference in the type of duty performed by sentenced and unsentenced prisoners.

The accused took the stand for the purpose of disputing the Government’s version of the second episode. Testifying in his own behalf with respect to that alleged violation, he asserted that he had complied with the sergeant’s order in all respects. He also contended that on the date of the incident, he was suffering from a pain in his side, and that six days later an operation was performed on him for appendicitis. However, he had not informed the sergeant of that fact at the time the order to carry rocks was given.

II

In order to ascertain the legality or illegality of the orders, it is necessary that we consider both the present law and its historical development. Article 13 of the Uniform Code, 50 USC § 567, provides:

“Subject to the provisions of article 57, no person, while being held for trial or the results of trial, shall be subjected to punishment or penalty other than arrest or confinement upon the charges pending against him, nor shall the arrest or confinement imposed upon him be any more rigorous than the circumstances require to insure his presence, but he may be subject to minor punishment during such period for infractions of discipline.”

To bring into prominence the prin- • ciples which we believe brought about that enactment, we begin with the Articles of War in effect in 1775. Article XLI provided:

“To the end that offenders may be brought to justice; whenever any officer or soldier shall commit a crime deserving punishment, he shall, by his commanding officer, if an officer, be put in arrest; if a non-commissioned officer or soldier, be imprisoned till he shall be either tried by [766]*766a court-martial, or shall be lawfully discharged by proper authority.”

There was no substantial change in that provision until 1920, when Arti-. cle 69 of the Articles of War of that date, 41 Stat 802, was enacted. It was in effect from that time until 1948, and it placed Congress on record as favoring a more intelligent and humane treatment of persons whose guilt had not been determined. It provided that:

“Any person subject to military law charged with crime or with a serious offense under these articles shall be placed in confinement or in arrest, as circumstances may require.”

It will thus be observed that the absolute confinement of earlier day was relaxed and the only valid reason for incarceration prior to conviction, i.e., to assure appearance for trial, started to influence the makers of the law.

Paragraph 19 of the 1949 Manual for Courts-Martial, U. S. Army, took another step toward relaxing restraints, for it states that:

“. . . The character and duration of the restraint imposed before and during trial, and pending final action upon the case, will be the minimum necessary under the circumstances.”

The present Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1951, is the latest expression by the Executive on this subject, and there we find the following statement:

“. . . Confinement will not be imposed pending trial unless deemed necessary to insure the presence of the accused at the trial or because ' of the seriousness of the offense charged.” [Paragraph 20c.]

As we view the changes, the earlier Articles of War and Manual provisions failed to. take cognizance of the fact that confinement itself was a form of penal servitude, and that if the restraint imposed was more than that needed to retain safe custody, the unnecessary restrictions were in the nature of punishment. Present-day enactments in this field seem to show a Congressional and Executive recognition of that principle, and an intent to change the old order by softening the injustice which is inherent in a system not permitting freedom on bail.

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Bluebook (online)
6 C.M.A. 762, 6 USCMA 762, 21 C.M.R. 84, 1956 CMA LEXIS 290, 1956 WL 4553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-bayhand-cma-1956.