United States v. Eshalomi

23 M.J. 12, 1986 CMA LEXIS 14431
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedOctober 14, 1986
DocketNo. 49789; NMCM 82-4599
StatusPublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 23 M.J. 12 (United States v. Eshalomi) 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. Eshalomi, 23 M.J. 12, 1986 CMA LEXIS 14431 (cma 1986).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court

EVERETT, Chief Judge:

Private First Class K. B. Eshalomi was tried at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, by a general court-martial composed of officer members. Contrary to his pleas, he was found guilty of burglary, rape, assault with intent to commit sodomy, and indecent assault, in violation of Articles 129, 120, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 929, 920, and 934, respectively. These findings and his sentence to a dishonorable discharge, confinement for 30 years, forfeiture of all pay, and reduction to pay grade E-l were approved by the convening authority. The United States Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review denied Eshalomi’s petition for a new trial and later affirmed his conviction in a separate action. We then granted review to consider this issue:

WHETHER THE NAVY-MARINE CORPS COURT OF MILITARY RE[13]*13VIEW ERRED WHEN IT DETERMINED THAT THE TRIAL COUNSEL’S DELIBERATE NON-DISCLOSURE OF: (1) THE VICTIM’S CIVILIAN MEDICAL RECORD WHICH REVEALED A PRIOR SEXUAL ASSAULT FOLLOWED BY TWO YEARS OF PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING, AND (2) THE VICTIM’S 7 MAY STATEMENT WHICH CONTAINED A MAJOR INCONSISTENCY AND REVEALED A MAJOR OMISSION FROM HER TESTIMONY CONCERNING THE RAPE, HAD NO EFFECT ON THE OUTCOME OF THE TRIAL WHERE THE VICTIM WAS THE ONLY EYEWITNESS TO THE ALLEGED OFFENSES.

I

A

Mrs. Judy Clark testified that she lived with her husband, a Marine corporal, and their two small children at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. In the early part of March 1981, she met appellant when she went to his house' to see whether his wife wanted to buy any Avon products. Appellant “came to the door dressed in his [under]shorts” and said that his wife was not at home. Mrs. Clark then left her name, telephone number, and address on an Avon pamphlet for Eshalomi to give to his wife.

In April, appellant called Mrs. Clark’s home about placing an order. Because she was not there, he left a message for her to call him back. Mrs. Clark later returned the call, and appellant placed an order. However, Mrs. Clark admitted that she and appellant also talked for about 20 to 30 minutes on a variety of subjects, including Eshalomi’s accent, which he identified for her as Nigerian. Furthermore, according to Mrs. Clark, at the end of their conversation he asked her for a date; but she told him that she was a married woman and laughed off his invitation. Mrs. Clark testified that she had told her husband everything appellant had said during their conversation; and Corporal Clark admonished her not to take any more orders from him. Eventually Corporal Clark picked up the deposit for the Avon order from appellant.

Mrs. Clark testified that several months later — on August 10th — while her husband was away at a military school and her two children were sleeping, she was awakened by some noise after she had fallen asleep on her couch in her living room while watching television. Thereupon, she saw two men coming through her back door; but before she could run to the backroom to get her pistol, the “shorter” man grabbed her and threw her on the lovechair in the living room. As she and he struggled, plants in the living room were knocked over. Their struggle continued into the kitchen, where some other items were knocked out of place. Then, after Mrs. Clark fell to the kitchen floor, the “shorter” man overcame her, got on top of her, and began ripping her nightgown and underpanties. She started screaming but stopped when he told her that he would make it difficult for her to breathe. At that point, he raped her.

As the “shorter” man was raping her, he was talking to her and, according to Mrs. Clark, had called her by her name. She recognized the voice and knew who the rapist was. Then he attempted to put his penis in her mouth; but she kept moving her head. Then “[h]e ejaculated on the side of my face.”

During the attack on her, Mrs. Clark attempted to scratch her assailant; but she did not know whether, in fact, she had been successful in doing so. She also testified that she “grabbed his wrist watch, I don’t know if I grabbed a watch or the cuff of his shirt or what, and he yanked it out [of] my hand.” As to what the second or “tall guy” was doing “all this time,” Mrs. Clark specifically testified that “[h]e was behind us, looking through the cabinets and everything, you could hear the rattle of cups and that sort of thing.”

After the “shorter” man had sexuallv assaulted Mrs. Clark, the two men left her apartment, and “I just kept pacing around, I didn’t know what to do.” Eventually, she [14]*14went to the house of her next-door neighbors, the Serratos, and told them that two men had broken into her house and had raped her. Corporal Serrato went over to check her house to make sure the men were not still lurking there. Eventually, he called the military police.

After they arrived, Mrs. Clark was transported in an ambulance to the hospital and taken to the emergency room, where she was examined by a doctor and other medical staff personnel. Thereafter, she went to the Naval Investigative Service (NIS) and talked with Special Agent Robert Dillard. In a written, sworn statement she described both men but stated, “I have never seen them before.” After she completed her statement, she and Dillard returned to her home. According to Mrs. Clark, at that time the telephone rang; and when she answered it, she could only hear heavy breathing. She immediately hung up the telephone. Thereafter, the telephone rang again and Special Agent Dillard answered the telephone; but no one said anything.

Mrs. Clark testified that the night after she was raped, she concluded that it was appellant who had raped her. On August 12, she provided a composite description of the two assailants. On August 14, she was shown six photographs and she picked out the picture of appellant as the man who had raped her.

Corporal Ruben Serrato testified that he had gone to sleep about 10:00 p.m.; but he was awakened between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. by a banging on his front door. It was Mrs. Clark, and she was nervous, upset, and crying. She stated that two men had come into her house; and later she revealed that she had been raped. When he went over to her house to look around, he saw a watch on the floor by the kitchen stove and a broken bottle of vodka in the trash can. However, the back door to her house was completely shut. Serrato testified that Mrs. Clark had not wanted him to call the military police; but he called them anyway, and they arrived at her house about 10 minutes later.

Mrs. Serrato reiterated her husband’s testimony. However, she added that, “[w]hen she come to my house, all I seen, it was all torn and everything, and I seen the short pink night gown; it was all torn, she didn’t have anything to cover up.” Mrs. Serrato described the disarray in which she found Mrs. Clark’s house. Also, she testified that, after Mrs. Clark’s husband had left for training, she had not seen anyone unusual visiting Mrs. Clark.

Special Agent Dillard had gone to Mrs. Clark’s house early in the morning of August 11, 1981. “She was very hysterical,” and the house “was completely disarrayed.” He found a wrist watch with a broken band.

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Bluebook (online)
23 M.J. 12, 1986 CMA LEXIS 14431, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-eshalomi-cma-1986.