United States v. Brosius

37 M.J. 652, 1993 CMR LEXIS 205, 1993 WL 168631
CourtU.S. Army Court of Military Review
DecidedMay 10, 1993
DocketACMR 9002732
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 37 M.J. 652 (United States v. Brosius) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Army 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. Brosius, 37 M.J. 652, 1993 CMR LEXIS 205, 1993 WL 168631 (usarmymilrev 1993).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT AND ACTION ON PETITION FOR NEW TRIAL

WERNER, Judge:

Though charged with premeditated murder, the appellant was convicted, contrary to his pleas, by a general court-martial composed of officer and enlisted members of unpremeditated murder in violation of Article 118, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 918 (1982) [hereinafter UCMJ].1 The court sentenced him to a dishonorable discharge, confinement for life, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and reduction to Private El. The convening authority commuted the confinement portion of the sentence to seventy-five years and approved the remainder of the adjudged sentence.

In this appeal, we address the following assignments of error:

I. The evidence is legally insufficient to establish the offense of unpremeditated murder.
II. The military judge erred in admitting an uncorroborated pretrial statement from the appellant to military erim[654]*654inal investigators in which he confessed to Tammy Ivon’s murder.
III. The military judge erred in denying a defense motion to suppress certain incriminating pretrial statements in violation of his rights under the 5th and 14th Amendments.
IV. The military judge erred in failing to dismiss charges pursuant to Rule for Courts-Martial 707 [hereinafter R.C.M.] on grounds that the appellant had been held in arrest for more than ninety days.

This court also specified the question of whether the appellant’s plea of guilty to wrongfully communicating a threat was provident.

Having considered the arguments and briefs of counsel for the parties, and having reviewed the entire record, we determine that none of the assigned errors have merit. Moreover, with regard to the specified issue, we find that the appellant’s guilty plea was provident.

I. The Prosecution’s Case

On the morning of 2 June 1990 at about 0440 hours, two sergeants walking near the parking lot adjacent to the enlisted servicemembers’ barracks on Giebelstadt Kaserne, Germany, observed a pair of legs protruding from beneath a pickup truck. Upon investigating, they discovered that the legs belonged to Private First Class (PFC) Tammy Ivon who was seriously injured from numerous knife wounds inflicted upon her by an unknown assailant. One of the sergeants, First Sergeant (1SG) Gentry, observed that although she was breathing, PFC Ivon’s pulse was weak, she was moaning, her head twitched, and she appeared to be in shock. Her jeans were pulled down to her ankles.

First Sergeant Gentry asked two passersby for help in assisting PFC Ivon. One of them, PFC Sherard, crawled under the truck to render first aid. He observed that her pulse was faint, she moved her hands and opened her eyes. She appeared to have been bleeding extensively but the blood had dried on her body and clothing. Her shirt was torn and lay open. Her jeans, which were pulled down to her ankles, had been cut through at the pelvic area. Her undergarments appeared to have been cut from her body and lay under her. First Sergeant Gentry told PFC Sherard to get a blanket. As he arose, PFC Sherard noticed an individual staring at him from a road abutting the parking lot. The two stared at each other for ten to fifteen seconds before the individual quickly walked away into the treeline. At trial, PFC Sherard insisted that, although it was twilight, he saw the individual clearly enough to identify him as the appellant.2

At about 0507 hours, a medic who had arrived on the scene pulled PFC Ivon’s body from beneath the truck and attempted to revive her. Although he felt a slight pulse, he observed that she had a sucking chest wound and was not breathing. Despite his resuscitative efforts, PFC Ivon did not regain consciousness and died from her wounds.

An autopsy conducted by a military pathologist, Doctor (Dr.) Marzouk, revealed that PFC Ivon died as a result of loss of blood from multiple stab wounds to her vital organs from a single-edged knife approximately three quarters of an inch wide and five inches long. The killer had stabbed her four times in the chest, five times in the abdomen, and had slashed her once in and around each eye. The autopsy report states, “The stab wounds did not lacerate the eye globes. The stab wound went lateral to the eye globe in the left eye, and above the eye globe in the right eye.” From the angle of entry of the weapon, Dr. Marzouk concluded that PFC Ivon had been lying on her back when the fatal [655]*655blows were administered. The wounds to her chest were administered through her shirt and tank top; four of the wounds to her abdomen occurred after her garments were displaced or removed. There were abrasions and contusions on her neck and chin as well as hemorrhaging behind the eyes which, Dr. Marzouk surmised, may have been caused by strangulation. There were contusions on her knees and on the exterior of her genitalia. However, there was no evidence of motile sperm in or on her body. The autopsy report also noted that PFC Ivon’s brassiere, tank top, panties and jeans had been cut through the center of each garment. Toxicological examination established the presence of a significant amount of alcohol in her blood but no evidence of drug use.

Dr. Marzouk testified in accordance with the autopsy report. He added that there was grass on PFC Ivon’s clothing and the back of her head. In response to a question from the court, he opined that PFC Ivon could have lived for a period of up to one to two hours after she had been stabbed.

Later in the morning of 2 June, members of the Criminal Investigation Command (CID) secured the crime scene and interviewed potential witnesses on Giebelstadt Kaserne concerning the circumstances surrounding PFC Ivon’s death. At the crime scene, they discovered PFC Ivon’s car parked adjacent to the truck under which her body was discovered. Blood stains permeated the rear seat of her vehicle and a piece of her underpants was found on the floorboard. The CID also found a blood stain on the cab and camper-top of the truck. There was no forensic evidence to establish the identity of PFC Ivon’s killer. Nor was the murder weapon found.

The CID first came into contact with the appellant when he approached them on 2 June with information about PFC Ivon’s death. The appellant’s roommate, Private (PVT) Casero, testified that he was awakened about 1110 hours by the appellant yelling, “Sparks did it.” The appellant explained that he was referring to the death of PFC Ivon and that he believed that her boyfriend, PVT Sparks, was the perpetrator. The appellant also gave this information to his first sergeant who referred him to Special Agent (SA) Allen, the CID agent conducting the investigation at Giebelstadt. The appellant reported that PFC Ivon gave him a ride back to the barracks from an off-base dance club on the night she was killed and that a third person was in the car with them. The appellant refused to identify the third person until “his first sergeant or a lawyer or someone with his interests” was present to insure that the information was properly documented. Special Agent Allen, who was busy with other witnesses, instructed the appellant to make his report to investigators at the CID office in Wuerzburg.

The appellant complied with SA Allen’s instructions.

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Related

Brosius v. Warden Lewisburg
Third Circuit, 2002
Brosius v. WARDEN, US PENITENT., LEWISBURG, PA.
125 F. Supp. 2d 681 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
37 M.J. 652, 1993 CMR LEXIS 205, 1993 WL 168631, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-brosius-usarmymilrev-1993.