United States v. Farence

57 M.J. 674, 2002 CCA LEXIS 225, 2002 WL 31162943
U S Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals·Decided September 30, 2002·No. CGCMG 0178; Docket No. 1161·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinions

KILROY, Judge:

Appellant was tried by a general court-martial composed of officer and enlisted members. Appellant pled not guilty to all charges brought against him. Appellant was convicted of one specification of displaying images of a female and a horse engaged in sex acts, one specification of misprision of a serious offense by advising subordinates to transport illegally obtained shrimp in a government vehicle to his off-base quarters to avoid detection and by failing to report the illegal acceptance of shrimp to authorities, and one specification of making and uttering a worthless check, in violation of Article 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. § 934; one specification of accessory after the fact to wrongful acceptance of shrimp by station personnel during law enforcement boardings, by concealing the illegally obtained shrimp to avoid detection, in violation of Article 78, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 878; and one specification of violation of a general order by using a government travel card to make unauthorized purchases, in violation of Article 92, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 892. Appellant was sentenced to reduction to E^l and a bad conduct discharge. The convening authority approved the sentence as adjudged.

Appellant was also convicted of one specification of conspiracy to misuse his wife’s government credit card, in violation of Article 81, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 881, and one specification of misprision of a serious offense by failing to report the illegal acceptance of shrimp to authorities (on the same occasion as the accessory conviction above, but a different occasion than the other misprision conviction above), in violation of Article 134, UCMJ. The military judge dismissed these two specifications after findings as an unreasonable multiplication of charges for sentencing purposes.

Appellant has assigned seven errors: (1) that the specification alleging the display of pornographic images fails to state an offense, (2) that Appellant had no Constitutionally required notice that showing a “pornographic” image to other adults is a criminal offense, (3) that the evidence was neither legally nor factually sufficient to demonstrate Appellant’s conduct in showing a sexually explicit computer image to his coworkers was prejudicial to good order and discipline, (4) that the military judge’s instructions to the members on sentencing overstated the maximum authorized punishment, (5) that the staff judge advocate’s recommendation misstates the findings and fails to alert the convening authority that the military judge dismissed several specifications as an unreasonable multiplication of charges, (6) that the government failed to prove that Appellant’s failure to maintain sufficient funds was “dishonorable,” and (7) that an unsuspended [676]*676bad-conduct discharge is inappropriately severe.

Pursuant, to Appellant’s Motion for Oral Argument on 23 May 2002, this Court heard oral arguments on the 9th of July 2002.

I

Appellant was convicted under Article 134, UCMJ, for displaying pornographic images depicting a female and a horse engaged in sex acts to four of his subordinates, on-board their duty station, to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces. Appellant assigned three errors regarding this conviction: (1) that the charge failed to state an offense, (2) that appellant had no Constitutionally required notice that showing such images to other adults is an offense, and (3) that the evidence was neither legally nor factually sufficient to demonstrate that his conduct was prejudicial to good order and discipline.

A

Appellant complains that the following specification fails to state an offense:

In that BM1 Douglas W. FARENCE, USCG, while on active duty, on divers occasions between 13 May 1999 and 1 July 2000, at Station Galveston, Texas, did display to [four named subordinate enlisted members] pornographic images depicting males and females, and a female and horse engaged in sex acts including intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex and that such display by BM1 Douglas W. FARENCE, was prejudicial to the good order and discipline in the armed forces.1

Appellant argues that, when conduct charged as an Article 134, UCMJ, offense is not “illegal under the common law or under most statutory codes,” but is instead “illegal solely because, in the military context, its effect is to prejudice good order or to discredit the service,” then the specification must contain either general words of criminality, or must allege sufficient facts to show why the conduct was prejudicial to good order and discipline. United States v. Davis, 26 M.J. 445, 448 (CMA 1988).

In Davis, the challenged specifications, just as the one before us, alleged that the charged conduct was “to the prejudice of good order and discipline____” Id. at 447. The Court held that

f conduct is alleged under Article 134 ‘as disorder or neglect to the prejudice of good order and discipline’ ... two elements must be set out: (1) that the accused did or failed to do certain acts; and (2) that, under the circumstances, the accused’s conduct was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces____

Id. at 448; see also Manual for Courts Martial (MCM) Pt. IV, ¶ 60.b. (2000 ed.).

The Court found that the challenged specifications in Davis “clearly allege both elements: They contain specific factual allegations of the acts committed, and they charge that the conduct was prejudicial to good order and discipline____” Id. at 448. The Court did not hold, as appellant argues, that the specification must contain either general words of criminality or factual allegations that show why the conduct was prejudicial to good order and discipline. To the contrary, the Court held that when

[t]he essence of appellant’s crime is that his unusual conduct, when it occurred on a military installation, had an adverse effect on military order and discipline [such that] the “wrongfulness” of his conduct consisted of its threat to good order and discipline ... [w]e can see no harm in alleging criminality in terms of the provisions of Article 134 which made the conduct wrongful ... The objectives of notice and protection from double jeopardy are in our view satisfied by the language employed here.

Id. at 448; see also United States v. Sell, 3 USCMA 202, 206, 11 CMR 202, 206, 1953 WL 2005 (1953).

In our view, Davis firmly established that a specification is sufficient if it alleges the [677]*677acts complained of and alleges that those acts were prejudicial to the good order and discipline of the armed forces. Stated differently, the words “prejudicial to the good order and discipline of the armed forces” are, without more, “words importing criminality” sufficient to support a specification alleging acts that would not otherwise constitute a crime. United States v. Brice, 17 USCMA 336, 38 CMR 134, 1967 WL 4394 (1967).

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United States v. Farence, 57 M.J. 674, 2002 CCA LEXIS 225, 2002 WL 31162943 (uscgcoca 2002).

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