United States v. Campbell

76 M.J. 644, 2017 CCA LEXIS 321, 2017 WL 1712732
United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals·Decided April 25, 2017·No. ACM 38906·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinions

Chief Judge DREW delivered the opinion of the court, in which Judge MINK joined. Senior Judge J. BROWN filed a separate opinion concurring in part.

PUBLISHED OPINION OF THE COURT

DREW, Chief Judge:

A general court-martial composed of officer members convicted Appellant, contrary to his pleas, of three specifications of wrongful use of 3, 4-methylene-dioxymethampheta-mine (ecstasy) and one specification of divers wrongful use of amphetamine in the form of Adderall, in violation of Article 112a, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. § 912a; and one specification of solici- ' tation to distribute ecstasy, in violation of Article 134, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 934,1 The court-martial sentenced Appellant to a dismissal. The convening authority approved the adjudged sentence.

Appellant raises several assignments of error on appeal: (1) whether the military judge abused her discretion in not suppressing Appellant’s oral and written statements to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI); (2) whether the Government failed to adequately corroborate Appellant’s confession;2 (3) whether the military judge abused her discretion in not suppressing evidence derived from a search of Appellant’s cell phone; (4) whether the military judge erred in denying a Defense challenge for cause of Captain TA; (5) whether [651]*651the military judge erred in overruling defense counsel’s objection to trial counsel’s sentencing argument; and (6) whether the military judge erred in giving the Air Force Trial Judiciary mandated reasonable doubt instruction.3 We find no error materially prejudicial to a substantial right of Appellant and affirm the findings and sentence.

I. Background

Since graduating from the Air Force Academy, Appellant used ecstasy on three occasions with a couple of his former classmates, now active duty lieutenants, and used Adde-rall on several occasions while studying for the Graduate Management Admission Test. He also solicited one of the lieutenants by text message to get him some ecstasy.

When his text messages were uncovered on one of the lieutenants’ phone, Appellant was called in by AFOSI and confronted with the digital evidence of his drug involvement. After a somewhat problematic rights advisement by AFOSI, Appellant voluntarily confessed and relinquished his cell phone for a search.

II. Discussion

A Appellant’s Statements to AFOSI

Appellant argues that the military judge abused her discretion when she failed to suppress his statements to investigators. Appellant asserts that, after initially waiving his right to counsel and his right to remain silent, he subsequently requested counsel when the investigators asked him if he was willing to submit to a polygraph and that his request for counsel was not honored by the investigators. Appellant also contends that the investigators created a coercive atmosphere during the interview, rendering his statements involuntary. We disagree that Appellant unambiguously invoked counsel or that the conditions of the interview rendered his statements involuntary, and find that the military judge did not abuse her discretion by failing to suppress Appellant’s statements. While not directly raised by Appellant, we are however troubled by the investigators’ actions prior to advising Appellant of his rights, which came all too close to undermining the intended effectiveness of the advice.

“A military judge’s denial of a motion to suppress a confession is reviewed for an abuse of discretion.” United States v. Chatfield, 67 M.J. 432, 437 (C.A.A.F. 2009). “The abuse of discretion standard is a strict one, calling for more than a mere difference of opinion.” United States v. White, 69 M.J. 236, 239 (C.A.A.F. 2010) (quoting United States v. Lloyd, 69 M.J. 95, 99 (C.A.A.F. 2010)). The military judge’s findings of fact are upheld unless they are clearly erroneous or unsupported by the record; however, we review de novo any conclusions of law in a denial of a motion to suppress a confession. Id. “A military judge abuses [her] discretion when: (1) the findings of fact upon which [she] predicates [her] ruling aré not supported by the evidence of record; (2) if incorrect legal principles were used; or (3) if [her] application of the correct legal principles to the facts is clearly unreasonable.” United States v. Ellis, 68 M.J. 341, 344 (C.A.A.F. 2010). “On questions of fact, [we ask] whether the decision is reasonable; on questions of law, [we ask] whether the decision is correct.” United States v. Baldwin, 54 M.J. 551, 553 (A.F. Ct. Grim. App. 2000) (alteration in original), aff'd, 54 M.J. 464 (C.A.A.F. 2001).

When analyzing the voluntariness of Appellant’s statements to investigators, we review the totality of the circumstances to determine whether his “will was overborne and his capacity for self-determination was critically impaired.” Chatfield, 67 M.J. at 439 (quoting United States v. Bubonics, 45 M.J. 93, 95 (C.A.A.F. 1996)). We evaluate “both the characteristics of the accused and the details of the interrogation.” Id. (quoting Bu-bonics, 45 M.J. at 95); see also Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 226, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973). We consider an appellant’s “age, education, experience, and intelligence as part of the circumstances bearing on the question whether a statement was voluntary.” Id. at 439-40.

[652]*6521. Article 31 Rights Advisement—Nature of the Accusation

After a brief rapport-building session, one APOSI special agent, SA1, in the presence of another who mostly took notes, engaged Appellant in a discussion leading up to reading Appellant his Article 31 rights. A portion of the video recording of the interview was introduced'into evidence and played for the members.4

Prior to the rights advice, which SA1 read from a standard Advisement of Rights (For military personnel) card, SA1 indicated that APOSI was investigating a number of people and they needed to talk to Appellant:

SA1: Yeah like I said there’s a lot of stuff that I want to talk to you about, and there’s a lot of stuff that, ah, ah, doesn’t deal with you directly at all, it deals with, more so, other people.
Appellant: Okay.
SA1: But in order to speak with you about some of that stuff, um, it’s kind of like an umbrella catch-all. So I’ve got to at least let you know, ah, what you’re in here for, and I’ve got to let you know some of the things that I’m going to talk to you about. And I’m going to do that, ah, but, um, I have to get through kind of the umbrella catch-all. So, some of the stuff that I’m going to brief you on doesn’t necessarily pertain to you, kind of pertains to other people. But, because I’m asking you questions in that arena I have to, I hpe to allow you to know that, right? And I’m going to do that in the means of letting you know what your rights are while you’re over here.

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United States v. Campbell, 76 M.J. 644, 2017 CCA LEXIS 321, 2017 WL 1712732 (afcca 2017).

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