United States v. Ferenczi

10 C.M.A. 3, 10 USCMA 3, 27 C.M.R. 77, 1958 CMA LEXIS 413, 1958 WL 3509
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedOctober 31, 1958
DocketNo. 11,543
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 10 C.M.A. 3 (United States v. Ferenczi) 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. Ferenczi, 10 C.M.A. 3, 10 USCMA 3, 27 C.M.R. 77, 1958 CMA LEXIS 413, 1958 WL 3509 (cma 1958).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court

Homer Ferguson, Judge:

The accused was convicted by general court-martial of disrespect toward a superior officer, and willful disobedience of a lawful order of a superior officer, in violation of Articles 89 and 90, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC §§ 889 and 890, respectively.

The issues before the Court are:

1. Whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain the findings of guilty of Charge I and its specification, the disrespect offense, and
2. Whether the law officer should have instructed on the lesser included offense of failure to obey under Charge II, the willful disobedience offense.

Inasmuch as one of the issues presented concerns sufficiency of the evidence, it will be helpful to set forth the facts in some detail. On September 26, 1957, accused’s unit, under the operational command of Lieutenant Hodges, had completed a period of instruction and began a ten-minute “break,” five minutes of which was to be devoted to physical training and five to smoking. The former was apparently composed of squat-thrusts and push-ups. While the other members of the unit were exercising, it was noticed that the accused was not. The acting platoon sergeant ordered the accused to do push-ups but he did not obey. Lieutenant Hodges noticed the accused was not exercising as directed by the acting platoon sergeant and consequently gave the accused at least four orders to do push-ups. The accused refused to obey the orders. Although at trial he testified his refusal to obey was due to his not feeling well, Lieutenant Hodges testified the accused had offered no explanation for his conduct. This incident formed the basis for the specification of Charge II, willful disobedience of a lawful order of a superior officer.

About an hour and a half later Lieutenant Hodges reported the incident to the company commander, Lieutenant Fallon, who, in turn, called the accused to his office. After considerable difficulty with the reporting procedure, the accused succeeded in reporting correctly. Lieutenant Fallon started to question the accused in an effort to familiarize himself with the circumstances surrounding the failure to engage in physical exercise. The accused is a Hungarian refugee who enlisted in the Army pursuant to the provisions of the “Lodge Act,” Section 4, Act of June 30, 1950, 64 Stat 316, as amended. The accused’s understanding of English is limited and Lieutenant Fallon found it necessary to summon an interpreter. In the confusion which accompanied the interview, the accused repeatedly attempted to interrupt Lieutenant Fallon and the interpreter, whereupon the [6]*6Lieutenant ordered the accused to “shut up.” The accused clenched his fists, stepped toward the Lieutenant’s desk and replied, “You no tell me to shut up.” There is some evidence the Lieutenant retorted profanely he would tell accused to shut up and something to this effect, “Come on, it will be the last time you hit me.” After glaring across the desk at each other for about forty-five seconds, the accused turned and hurriedly walked away without being dismissed. At the trial, accused testified the profanity was offensive to him and that he understood the Lieutenant’s words as an invitation to fight.

We shall consider, first, whether the evidence of record is legally sufficient to sustain the findings of guilty of disrespect. The disi*e-spectful behavior contemplated by Article 89 of the Code, supra, is such as detracts from the respect due to the authority and person of a superior officer. Such behavior may consist of either language or acts. The Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1951, in paragraph 168, suggests some examples where it states:

. . Disrespect by acts may be exhibited in a variety of modes —as neglecting the customary salute, by a marked disdain, indifference, insolence, impertinence, undue familiarity, or other rudeness in the presence of the superior officer.”

In the instant case the accused was convicted of behaving with disrespect toward his superior officer by contemptuously turning from and leaving the presence of the latter while said officer was talking to him. It is clear that such conduct, if established by the evidence, constitutes disrespect. In attacking the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the charge of disrespect, the accused does not deny he committed the physical act forming the basis of the charge nor does he suggest that he did not realize Lieutenant Fallon was his superior officer or that he thought the interview in question had been terminated. Essentially, accused contends he left the presence of his superior officer out of fear rather than disrespect. Thus, at trial, he testified that he viewed Lieutenant Fallon’s actions as constituting an invitation to fight, and since he did not want to strike his superior officer and was afraid of him, he attempted to leave the office.

The court-martial chose to believe the other witnesses rather than the accused and “if there is any substantial evidence in the record to support a conviction an appellate court, in the absence of other error, will not set aside the verdict.” United States v McCrary, 1 USCMA 1, 1 CMR 1. Even where reasonable men may disagree as to the conclusions which may be drawn from certain evidence, this Court is without authority to interfere with the fact finders’ determinations of fact. See McCrary, supra. Nor may we reweigh evidence or redetermine the credibility of witnesses. United States v Lowry, 4 USCMA 448, 16 CMR 22. In determining questions of fact, a court-martial may consider the personal interest which an accused in a criminal case has in its outcome (United States v Ferretti, 1 USCMA 328, 3 CMR 57) and may believe or reject his testimony in whole or in part (Manual for Courts-Martial, supra, paragraph 153a).

The accused testified that the company commander had invited him to engage in physical combat. Although other witnesses indicated Lieutenant Fallon had raised his voice in admonishing the accused, none testified that the officer had issued an invitation to fight. Captain Lowe specifically stated he did not see Lieutenant Fallon threaten the accused or make any gestures toward him. Moreover, the testimony of several eyewitnesses to the incident clearly supports a finding that when'accused turned from and left the presence of his superior officer, he did so out of anger rather than fear. Thus Sergeant Hart testified that the accused did not appear to be frightened and Captain Lowe stated that the accused looked [7]*7as if “he was very mad” when he left his commander’s office. Lieutenant Fallon’s stipulated testimony indicates that the accused “stormed out” of the office. An examination of the accused’s testimony reveals his admission that after Lieutenant Fallon had told him to shut up, he, the accused, was “getting mad.” This testimony, coupled with accused’s admission that he had lied at his previous trial and apparently would “continue to lie” until the Army fulfilled various expectations allegedly extant in his mind, justified the court’s rejecting the accused’s suggestion that he abruptly and discourteously left the presence of his superior officer out of fear.

We conclude there is sufficient evidence of record to support the findings of guilty of Charge I and its specification.

We come now to the second issue, viz, whether the law officer should have instructed on the lesser included offense of failure to obey under Charge II.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Najera
52 M.J. 247 (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 2000)
United States v. Van Steenwyk
21 M.J. 765 (U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review, 1985)
United States v. Bright
20 M.J. 661 (U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review, 1985)
United States v. Jones
10 M.J. 825 (U S Air Force Court of Military Review, 1981)
United States v. Virgilito
22 C.M.A. 394 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1973)
United States v. Simmelkjaer
18 C.M.A. 406 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1969)
United States v. Madison
14 C.M.A. 655 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1964)
United States v. Kuefler
14 C.M.A. 136 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1963)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
10 C.M.A. 3, 10 USCMA 3, 27 C.M.R. 77, 1958 CMA LEXIS 413, 1958 WL 3509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-ferenczi-cma-1958.