United States v. Dalton

71 M.J. 632, 2012 CCA LEXIS 365, 2012 WL 4372878
CourtNavy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedSeptember 25, 2012
DocketNMCCA 201100521
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 71 M.J. 632 (United States v. Dalton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Navy-Marine Corps 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. Dalton, 71 M.J. 632, 2012 CCA LEXIS 365, 2012 WL 4372878 (N.M. 2012).

Opinion

PUBLISHED OPINION OF THE COURT

PERLAK, Chief Judge:

A panel of members with enlisted representation sitting as a general court-martial convicted the appellant, contrary to his plea, of one specification of involuntary manslaughter, as a lesser included offense of unpremeditated murder, in violation of Article 119(b)(1), Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 919(b)(1). The members sentenced the appellant to five years of confinement, reduction to pay grade E-l, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge. The convening authority (CA) approved the sentence as adjudged and ordered it executed.1

The appellant raises four assignments of error (AOE) on appeal: (1) that the evidence was not legally and factually sufficient to sustain a conviction of involuntary manslaughter; (2) that involuntary manslaughter is not a lesser included offense of murder; (3)that the military judged erred by not [633]*633tailoring the self-defense instruction; and (4) that the military judged erred by excluding a postmortem toxicology report showing the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the victim’s system.

We have considered the record of trial, the appellant’s AOEs, the pleadings, and the oral argument of the parties. We conclude that the findings and the sentence are correct in law and fact and that no error materially prejudicial to the substantial rights of the appellant was committed. Arts. 59(a) and 66(c), UCMJ.

Background

The appellant was a Corporal of Marines deployed to Afghanistan and posted to Forward Operating Base Marjah. In the predawn hours of 16 July 2010, the appellant was in a billeting area waking up members of his unit to stand watch. Corporal (Cpl) DS took issue with both the timing and the manner in which he was awakened. Words were exchanged between the two corporals, and an argument escalated until they were separated. The argument erupted again outside the billeting area, becoming physical. Seconds into the fistfight, the appellant drew his multipurpose bayonet and delivered a single plunging stab wound to Cpl DS’s neck, severing his pulmonary vein. Bystanders’ efforts to stop the bleeding and save Cpl DS’s life were unsuccessful.

The appellant was initially charged with one specification of unpremeditated murder under Article 118 and one specification of voluntary manslaughter under Article 119(a), UCMJ. Citing to United States v. Schap, 49 M.J. 317, 319 (C.A.A.F.1998), the military judge dismissed the voluntary manslaughter charge, holding it to be a lesser included offense (LIO) of unpremeditated murder.

The appellant testified at trial that he feared for his life and was being choked by Cpl DS when he escalated to using the bayonet, stating that he did not intend to cause death or great bodily harm to Cpl DS. The appellant’s testimony prompted the military judge to raise the issue of both voluntary and involuntary manslaughter as LIOs of unpremeditated murder. While trial counsel agreed that involuntary manslaughter was an appropriate LIO, trial defense counsel objected.2 The military judge, believing the evidence had raised the issue of culpable negligence, instructed on involuntary manslaughter as an LIO.

Lesser Included Offense

The appellant posits the threshold question of whether involuntary manslaughter is a lesser included offense (LIO) of unpremeditated murder, in light of United States v. Jones, 68 M.J. 465 (C.A.A.F.2010). We review whether an offense is an LIO de novo. United States v. Miller, 67 M.J. 385, 387 (C.A.A.F.2009). We compare the elements of the charged offense with the elements of involuntary manslaughter. If all the elements of involuntary manslaughter are also elements of unpremeditated murder, or a subset thereof, then involuntary manslaughter is an LIO. Jones, 68 M.J. at 469-70 (citing Schmuck v. United States, 489 U.S. 705, 109 S.Ct. 1443, 103 L.Ed.2d 734 (1989)). Following our review of the statutory language of the two statutes, their prescribed elements, and applying the Jones reductive elements analysis, we hold that involuntary manslaughter is an LIO of unpremeditated murder and the military judge does not abuse their discretion in so instructing in a case where involuntary manslaughter is reasonably raised by the evidence.

Unpremeditated murder has four elements: (1) a death; (2) that the accused caused the death by an act or omission; (3) the killing was unlawful; and (4) at the time of the killing, the accused had the intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm upon a person. Art. 118, UCMJ; MCM, Part IV, ¶ 43b(2) (2008 ed.).

Involuntary manslaughter likewise has four elements: (1) a death; (2) that the accused caused the death by an act or omission; (3) the killing was unlawful; and (4) that this act or omission constituted culpable [634]*634negligence. Art. 119, UCMJ; MCM, Part IV, ¶44(2) (2008 ed.).

The final elements of each crime assign a mens rea with which the accused acts or fails to act. Unpremeditated murder requires the specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily-harm, while involuntary manslaughter requires that one act with culpable negligence. See Arts. 118 and 119, UCMJ. Culpable negligence is a negligent act or omission accompanied by a culpable disregard for the foreseeable consequences to others of that act or omission. Art. 119, UCMJ; MCM, Part IV, ¶ 44c(2)(a)(i) (2008 ed.).

The first three elements of the two offenses are identical. This focuses us narrowly on the question of whether the fourth element diverges to the point that the appellant is facing a fundamentally distinct charge that must be separately pled. Stated differently, we must determine whether culpable negligence while stabbing with a combat knife, viewed in the light of human experience, is a subset of the intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm. We hold that it is a subset of intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm.

The physical act and gravamen of the crimes, unlawfully causing the death of another, are the same. The difference in the charged offense and the offense the appellant was found guilty of lies in the degree of culpability assigned to the appellant by the trier of fact, having heard the evidence. An accused could, through the same physical action (e.g. stabbing at an aggressor with a knife), kill someone intentionally or by culpable negligence. Both circumstances require the appellant to possess the intent to commit the physical act of stabbing. While the murderer intends the consequence of death, the culpably negligent killer makes his act or omission without regard to its potential lethality. Just as simple assault is subsumed into aggravated assault, involuntary manslaughter is subsumed into unpremeditated murder.3

Federal case law, post-Schmuck, supports our holding that involuntary manslaughter4 is an LIO of murder. See United States v. Crowe, 563 F.3d 969, 973-74 (9th Cir.2009); United States v. Brown, 287 F.3d 965, 975 (10th Cir.2002); United States v. One Star,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
71 M.J. 632, 2012 CCA LEXIS 365, 2012 WL 4372878, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-dalton-nmcca-2012.