United States v. Erie

29 M.J. 1008, 1990 CMR LEXIS 23, 1990 WL 4544
CourtU.S. Army Court of Military Review
DecidedJanuary 17, 1990
DocketACMR 8802322
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 29 M.J. 1008 (United States v. Erie) 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. Erie, 29 M.J. 1008, 1990 CMR LEXIS 23, 1990 WL 4544 (usarmymilrev 1990).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

DeFORD, Senior Judge:

Pursuant to his pleas, the appellant was convicted by a military judge sitting as a general court-martial of wrongful use of cocaine, wrongful use of methamphetamine, wrongful distribution of cocaine (three specifications), and wrongful distribution of methamphetamine (four specifications) all in violation of Article 112a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 912a (Supp. Ill) [hereinafter UCMJ]. His approved sentence included a dishonorable discharge, confinement for seven years, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and reduction to the grade of Private El.

The appellant’s guilty pleas were conditionally entered in order to preserve a motion to suppress two separate statements by the appellant, one rendered on 6 May 1988, the other on 12 May 1988. See generally Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1984, Rule for Courts-Martial 910(a)(2).1 This motion stated alternate grounds: first, that the rights warning did not adequately apprise appellant of the nature of the offense under investigation as required by Article 31(b), UCMJ2, 10 U.S.C. § 831(b); and, second, that his waiver of the codal and constitutional rights under Article 31(b), UCMJ, and United States v. Tempia3 was the product of either unlawful inducement or unlawful influence and that his statements were therefore involuntary and thus inadmissible. The appellant now relitigates these matters before this court. We hold that the rulings of the military judge were correct albeit on different grounds and affirm the findings of guilty and the sentence.

I

The following facts were not in dispute at trial. The appellant, his wife and a French national named Jean Francois Plateau shared an apartment in Wolsfeld, Germany. Plateau had been identified by German and French police authorities as an international drug trafficker. When they discovered that he shared an apartment [1010]*1010with an American servicemember, they decided to involve American military authorities in the investigation. On 5 May 1988, French and German police authorities together with a military police investigator, Sergeant John T. Stroud, raided the apartment.

Plateau was arrested and the apartment searched. Hashish was found in the bedroom of the appellant. The appellant was apprehended by German police authorities and questioned about his involvement with Plateau. The appellant told German investigators that he was not trafficking in drugs. The appellant was then released “so he could go home and get some sleep.”

On 6 May, Investigator Stroud had the appellant brought in for an interview. At that time, Investigator Stroud advised the appellant of his rights as required by Tempia and Article 31(b), UCMJ. This advisement included notice that the appellant was suspected of wrongful use of hashish. The appellant waived his rights and rendered a sworn statement denying any knowledge of the presence of hashish in the apartment. He stated that the hashish belonged to his wife. However, he did admit that he had previously used hashish on 27 September 1988, but stated that he had “turned myself in for the Drug and Alcohol Program on the 29th of March [1989].”

Investigator Stroud testified that the parties then entered the “second segment” of the interview. The appellant’s battery commander, Captain (CPT) Eugene P. Paulo, participated in this portion of the interview. Investigator Stroud did not intend to obtain additional inculpatory statements from the appellant during this “segment.” He and CPT Paulo asked the appellant to identify other members of the appellant’s unit who were using controlled substances. The appellant cooperated and identified several individuals as users of hashish, cocaine, and methamphetamine. Investigator Stroud asked the appellant, “How do you know?” The appellant replied that he had provided these individuals with the drugs.

With this admission, Investigator Stroud suspected that the appellant may have been involved in distributing controlled substances. He halted the interview and sought guidance from a more experienced investigator as to whether he was legally required to readvise the appellant of his rights for the offense of distribution of controlled substances. The agent told him that readvisement was not necessary. Investigator Stroud resumed the interview smiling and telling the appellant, “I should probably advise, you of your rights for distribution, but let’s go ahead and continue.”

The appellant then admitted that he had distributed and used controlled substances which he had obtained from Plateau. He admitted using both cocaine and methamphetamine. He also admitted numerous distributions of cocaine and methamphetamine to eleven individuals.

On 12 May, Investigator Stroud and a special agent of the CID decided “that a reinterview [of the appellant] would be necessary to clarify other details concerning the statement we got before.” The appellant was readvised of his rights and told that he was suspected of wrongful “possession, use, [and] distribution of controlled substances” including “cocaine, methamphetamines, [and] hashish.” The appellant waived his rights and reiterated his admissions of 6 May but identified yet additional individuals to whom he had distributed controlled substances.

With respect to the appellant’s second statement of 6 May 1988, the military judge granted the appellant’s motion to suppress. He specifically found that “no promises, threats, offers of lenient treatment or possible immunity” were made. However, he ruled that, as a matter of law, distribution of cocaine and methamphetamine is a “substantially different offense than possession of hashish” and required a readvisement of rights with notice to the appellant that he was suspected of distribution of controlled substances. He made an additional finding of fact that the participation of CPT Paulo during the second segment of the appellant’s interview injected subtle and obvious command pressures into the interrogation. Thus, his ruling affected only those statements made dur[1011]*1011ing the second segment of the 6 May interview.

With respect to the appellant’s statement of 12 May, the military judge denied the appellant’s motion to suppress. Although the military judge found as a matter of fact that the rights advisement of 12 May did not include a “cleansing” statement regarding the second segment of the statement of 6 May, he ruled that it nevertheless satisfied the requirements of the law and that the appellant’s waiver was knowing and intelligent. He further ruled that the illegality which prompted suppression of the statement of 6 May did not create a “presumptive taint” as to the statement of 12 May because the illegality existed only with respect to the lack of a rights advisement.

Our review of the evidence of record and the inferences to be drawn therefrom requires modification of the rulings of the military judge below. His rulings were based on the facts and law of the case as presented by counsel whose presentation somewhat obscured the issues presented by the facts.

II

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 M.J. 1008, 1990 CMR LEXIS 23, 1990 WL 4544, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-erie-usarmymilrev-1990.