United States v. Corralez

61 M.J. 737, 2005 WL 2129920
CourtUnited States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedAugust 31, 2005
DocketACM 35415
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 61 M.J. 737 (United States v. Corralez) 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. Corralez, 61 M.J. 737, 2005 WL 2129920 (afcca 2005).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

MALLOY, Senior Judge:

This case involves a sordid tale of domestic violence committed against two women with whom the appellant had a romantic relationship at the time of each respective offense. The myriad offenses arise out of the appellant’s violent behavior toward these two young women, SS and MR, while under the influence of alcohol. He was convicted by a general court-martial, consistent with his pleas, of violating a lawful order (2 specifications), aggravated assault (2 specifications), assault consummated by a battery (16 specifications), kidnapping (3 specifications), communicating a threat (2 specifications), and breaking restriction (1 specification) in violation of Articles 92, 128, and 134, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. §§ 892, 928, 934. He was found not guilty of the remaining specifications consisting of two specifications of assault, one specification of kidnapping, and one specification of communicating a threat charged as violations of Articles 128 and 134, UCMJ. A military judge sitting alone sentenced him to a dishonorable discharge, confinement for 4 years, and reduction to E-l. The convening authority approved the sentence as adjudged, and the case is now before this Court for mandatory review under Article 66, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 866.

The appellant raises three assignments of error: (1) Whether his pleas to the two aggravated assaults (Specifications 1 and 2 of Charge I) and to two of the kidnapping specifications (Specification 1 of Charge II and Specification 1 of Additional Charge II) were improvident; (2) Whether he is entitled to credit for seven days of pretrial confinement because the government miscalculated his time in pretrial confinement; and (3) Whether the military judge erred in not dismissing Specification 2 of Second Additional Charge 11 (assault upon MR) as an unreasonable multiplication of charges.

The government concedes that the appellant is entitled to an additional seven days of pretrial confinement credit. In light of this concession, we will award the requested credit.

[739]*739We find that the appellant’s guilty pleas to the two aggravated assaults against SS on 17 May 2001 were provident. The military judge’s mistakes in explaining the elements of aggravated assault did not render the appellant’s guilty plea improvident to those offenses, and he was not obligated to advise the appellant that voluntary intoxication was a possible defense to the offense of kidnapping. But we find a substantial basis in law and fact to question the appellant’s guilty pleas to kidnapping MR and, accordingly, set aside Specifications 1 and 2 of Additional Charge II. In light of these findings, we need not address the appellant’s claim that there was an unreasonable multiplication of charges.

I. Aggravated Assaults

A. Background

In May 2001, the appellant and SS, a female member of the appellant’s squadron, were in a romantic relationship and lived together in an apartment in Las Vegas, Nevada. On the evening of 17 May 2001, they went out for an uneventful dinner with friends at a local restaurant. While there, the appellant drank three or four 23-ounce beers over approximately a four-hour period. Upon departing the restaurant, the appellant drove the couple back to their apartment without incident or obvious impairment. They did not argue on their way home and SS had no reason to suspect that anything was amiss until they reached the apartment.

After arriving at their apartment, the appellant unexpectedly told SS that she could not stay there and refused to allow her to enter. SS asked the appellant for her Air Force battle dress uniform and car keys. The appellant threw the uniform out the front door but refused to give her the ear keys. Almost immediately, however, he changed his mind about her leaving and invited her to enter the apartment. Once SS was inside, the appellant began a series of violent assaults against her lasting more than two and a half hours and ending only after a concerned neighbor, Mr. Michael Maciolek, placed a 911 call to the Las Vegas police.

Mr. Maciolek lived with his family next door to the appellant and SS and became concerned that something was wrong when his young daughter awoke screaming in the night as a result of loud noises coming from next door. Mr. Maciolek then heard body slams against the wall and screams for help coming from the appellant’s apartment. He described these screams as “horrifying” and “terrifying.” At one point, he observed SS attempting to flee the apartment by crawling out the front door on her hands and knees naked, only to have the appellant drag her by the hair back inside.

SS explained in her testimony that she was naked at the time Mr. Maciolek saw her because the appellant had forced her to remove all of her clothes to prevent her from escaping. She, too, described how the appellant pulled her back into the apartment by her hair. Photographs of her head admitted at trial revealed significant hair loss and injury to her scalp.

The Las Vegas police treated Mr. Macio-lek’s 911 call as a serious domestic violence situation requiring an immediate response. Officer Scott Murray was the first police officer to arrive at the apartment and testified during the sentencing phase of the trial. When Officer Murray knocked at the front door, the appellant answered with blood shot eyes and the odor of alcohol on his breath. He told Officer Murray that he had been drinking, but otherwise appeared calm and friendly and answered Officer Murray’s questions appropriately. He explained that he and SS had argued, but “everything was okay and that the police were not needed.” He attempted to block Officer Murray from entering the apartment and told him “there was no problem” and “they didn’t need the police.” Suspecting otherwise, Officer Murray pushed the appellant out of the way and entered the apartment to do a welfare check. At that point, the appellant turned hostile and began arguing with the police. At the same time, he called to SS in an effort to get her attention before the officers found her.

Officer Murray found SS in the bedroom “sitting on the end of the bed crying hysterically.” She appeared to be extremely scared and had visible injuries on her body, including “deep teeth impressions” on one hand. In due course, the police photographed her [740]*740injuries. These photographs reveal two large bite marks on her right breast, a cigarette bum on her arm, various abrasions on her body, ligature marks on her neck, and injury to her scalp resulting from having her hair pulled from her head.

During the course of the evening, SS had been subjected to a number of assaults including two that were aggravated. The first aggravated assault occurred after the appellant broke a glass candleholder. After retrieving a shard of broken glass, he held it to SS’s face while telling her “don’t think I won’t cut your pretty face.” After directing her to remove her clothes, he intentionally burned her arm with a cigarette and ordered her into the bedroom, stating it was time for them to go to bed. After SS complied with his order to lie upon the bed, the appellant briefly left the room to retrieve a kitchen knife and a purse strap.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
61 M.J. 737, 2005 WL 2129920, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-corralez-afcca-2005.