United States v. Caniete

28 M.J. 426, 1989 CMA LEXIS 3584, 1989 WL 90604
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedAugust 29, 1989
DocketNo. 61,479; NMCM 88 1802
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 28 M.J. 426 (United States v. Caniete) 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. Caniete, 28 M.J. 426, 1989 CMA LEXIS 3584, 1989 WL 90604 (cma 1989).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court

SULLIVAN, Judge:

On March 21, 1988, appellant was tried by military judge sitting alone as a special court-martial at Naval Legal Service Office, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Pursuant to his pleas, he was found guilty of larceny of a stereo cassette receiver, in violation of Article 121, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC § 921. He was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge, confinement for 2 months, forfeiture of $447.00 pay per month for 2 months, and reduction to the lowest enlisted grade. The convening authority approved the sentence as adjudged but suspended for 1 year confinement in excess of 31 days and forfeitures above $200.00 pay per month for 2 months. The Court of Military Review affirmed the findings and sentence in a short-form opinion dated July 13, 1988.

This Court specified review of the following issue:

WHETHER THE MILITARY JUDGE ERRED BY ADMITTING PROSECUTION EXHIBITS 1 AND 2 AS EVIDENCE OF PRIOR CONVICTIONS UNDER ROM 1001(b)(3) IN LIGHT OF THE FACT THAT THE CONVICTIONS OCCURRED AFTER THE DATE OF THE OFFENSE FOR WHICH APPELLANT WAS CONVICTED IN THIS TRIAL.

We find no error in the military judge’s ruling and hold that the evidence of prior convictions was admissible against appellant at this court-martial. RCM 1001(b)(3)(A), Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1984.

The facts of this case are uncontroverted. Sometime in 1987, appellant was disrespectful to a Naval officer and slashed his Division Officer’s tires, in violation of Articles 89 and 109, UCMJ, 10 USC §§ 889 and 909, respectively. Around June 13, 1987, appellant went to the Pearl Harbor Auto Hobby Body Shop and stole an Alpine stereo receiver from an inoperative car parked there. According to defense counsel’s unrebutted statement, at least one of the former offenses occurred prior to the theft offense involved in the present court-martial.

On November 2, 1987, charges were referred against appellant for the disrespect and property-damage offenses. On November 13, 1987, appellant pleaded guilty [427]*427to those offenses and was sentenced to confinement for 3 months, forfeiture of $425.00 pay per month for 3 months, and reduction to E-2. The convening authority suspended confinement in excess of 45 days for 1 year, with provision for automatic remission.

On March 21, 1988, at a second court-martial, appellant pleaded guilty to the larceny offense. In aggravation for sentencing, government counsel introduced evidence of appellant’s November 1987 conviction. Defense counsel objected, arguing that this Court’s opinion in United States v. Krewson, 12 MJ 157 (CMA 1981), prohibited use of convictions obtained between the date of the offense and the date of trial as aggravation evidence.

Government counsel argued that Krewson and paragraph 75b (2), Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1969 (Revised edition), had been superseded by RCM 1001(b)(3)(A), 1984 Manual, supra, which did not limit the use of prior convictions. The military judge recessed to consider the objection but later overruled it.

The particular question before this Court is whether the decision of this Court in United States v. Krewson, supra, has been superseded by RCM 1001(b)(3)(A), which is found in the current Manual for Courts-Martial. The answer depends on the legal basis of our decision in Krewson and the content of the new Manual provision.

First, we note that the version of paragraph 756(2) which applied in Krewson stated, in relevant part:

The trial counsel will next introduce evidence of any previous convictions of the accused by courts-martial. This evidence is not limited to offenses similar to the one of which the accused stands convicted. The evidence must, however, relate to offenses committed during the six years next preceding the commission of any offense of which the accused stands convicted. In computing the six-year period, periods of unauthorized absence as shown by the findings in the case or by the evidence of previous convictions should be excluded.

(Emphasis added.) In Krewson, this language was interpreted to require that only evidence of offenses occurring prior to the charged offense could be considered by the court-martial. 12 MJ at 159-61. Accordingly, as government counsel conceded at trial, had this case been governed by the 1969 Manual, supra, the challenged evidence would have been inadmissible.

Appellant, however, was tried by a court-martial convened after the adoption of the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1984. In the new Manual, paragraph 756 (2) has been replaced by RCM 1001(b)(3)(A). This new rule states:

In general. The trial counsel may introduce evidence of military or civilian convictions of the accused. For purposes of this rule, there is a “conviction” in a court-martial case when a sentence has been adjudged.

The Drafters’ Analysis to the 1984 rule further states:

Subsection (3) deletes the exclusion of convictions more than 6 years old. No similar restriction applies to consideration of prior convictions at sentencing proceedings in Federal civilian courts. There is no reason to forbid their consideration by courts-martial, subject to Mil. R.Evid. 403.

App. 21, 1984 Manual, supra at A21-63.

It is clear, therefore, from both the express terms of RCM 1001(b)(3)(A) and its analysis that the older rule has been superseded. Several service Courts of Military Review have reached this same conclusion. See United States v. Hanes, 21 MJ 647 (ACMR 1985); United States v. Allen, 21 MJ 507 (AFCMR), pet. denied, 21 MJ 307 (CMA 1985). Accordingly, we must apply the new rule to the case at bar, without the aid of our opinion in Krewson and its strict application of the now-superseded paragraph 756(2).

As the analysis quoted above illustrates, RCM 1001(b)(3)(A) was designed to conform sentencing by courts-martial more closely with federal practice. This does not [428]*428mean, however, that it was intended that military practice become an identical counterpart of the federal practice. See United States v. Wingart, 27 MJ 128, 136 (CMA 1988). For example, military practice does not permit reception of all material (i.e., his criminal record) which might be considered under Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(c)(2)(A).

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Bluebook (online)
28 M.J. 426, 1989 CMA LEXIS 3584, 1989 WL 90604, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-caniete-cma-1989.