United States v. Fosler

69 M.J. 669, 2010 CCA LEXIS 357, 2010 WL 4269601
CourtNavy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedOctober 28, 2010
DocketNMCCA 201000134
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 69 M.J. 669 (United States v. Fosler) 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. Fosler, 69 M.J. 669, 2010 CCA LEXIS 357, 2010 WL 4269601 (N.M. 2010).

Opinion

PUBLISHED OPINION OF THE COURT

REISMEIER, Chief Judge:

A panel of members with enlisted representation sitting as a general court-martial convicted the appellant, contrary to his pleas, of adultery in violation of Article 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 934. The appellant was sentenced to 30 days confinement, reduction in pay grade to E-l, total forfeitures, and a bad-conduct discharge. The convening authority approved the sentence as adjudged.

The appellant contends that the specification for which he was convicted fails to state an offense because it does not expressly allege the terminal element of Article 134, UCMJ. We find the Government is not required to expressly allege the terminal element for an Article 134, UCMJ, offense, and affirm the findings and sentence.

I. BACKGROUND

The specification under Charge II alleging adultery in violation of Article 134, UCMJ was set forth as follows:

[670]*670In that Lance Corporal James N. Fosler, U.S. Marine Corps, Marine Corps Security Force Regiment, on active duty, a married man, did, at or near Naval Station, Rota, Spain, on or about 26 December 2007, by wrongfully having sexual intercourse with [Ms. K], a woman not his wife.

The evidence in the record of trial supporting the adultery conviction is clear. The appellant was a drill instructor (DI) at the Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) in Rota, Spain. Record at 844. In two written statements provided to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and in his testimony at trial, the appellant admitted to being married and having sexual intercourse on 26 December 2007 with Ms. K, a sixteen-year-old high school student enrolled in NJROTC. Prosecution Exhibits 10 and 12; Record at 841-45, 1461. Ms. K. worked as an assistant drill instructor (ADI) at NJROTC, and the appellant was one of the DIs whom Ms. K assisted. Record at 843-44. Ms. K lived in Rota, Spain because she was the dependent daughter of an active duty Navy servicemember. Id. at 840. The appellant, in uniform, met Ms. K at the barracks building on Naval Station, Rota, Spain, and escorted her to the lounge where he engaged in sexual intercourse with her. Id. at 902, 1487, 1493. The evidence showed that other DIs and NJROTC students knew the appellant had sexual intercourse with Ms. K. Id. at 947, 949, 1143-44, 1615. Ms. K claimed the intercourse was not consensual, but the appellant was ultimately acquitted of rape and aggravated sexual contact (Charge I) under Article 120, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 920.

Other than the evidence supporting the adultery conviction, minimal portions of the record of trial are relevant to the assignment of error. During opening statements, trial defense counsel referred to the adultery charge by acknowledging that Lance Corporal (LCpl) Fosler had sexual intercourse with Ms. K, but then stated, “it takes more for that to run us into a crime.... ” Record at 825. Trial defense counsel did not make any pretrial motions consistent with the current assignment of error, but he did make an oral motion under Rule for Courts-Martial 917, Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2005 ed.) to dismiss the adultery charge for failure to state an offense, noting that the specification did not allege the terminal element. Record at 1355-57.1 The military judge denied the motion, and stated that the Government was not required to explicitly allege the terminal element. She further stated, referring to the terminal element, “[t]he government can prove up either of them in this case.” Id. at 1357. At the conclusion of the trial, the military judge instructed the members as to the elements of adultery:

In order to find the accused guilty of this offense, you must be convinced, by legal and competent evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt:
First, that ... the accused wrongfully had sexual intercourse with [Ms. K];
Secondly, that the accused was married to another; and
Thirdly, that under the circumstances, the conduct of the accused was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.
Not every act of adultery constitutes an offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. To constitute an offense, the government must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the accused’s adultery was either directly prejudicial to good order and discipline, or service discrediting.
Under some circumstances, adultery may not be prejudicial to good order and discipline, but nevertheless may be service discrediting, as I’ve explained those terms to you.
Likewise, depending on the circumstances, adultery could be prejudicial to good order [671]*671and discipline, but not be service discrediting.

Id. at 1767-69. Following deliberations, the members returned general findings and found the appellant not guilty of Charge I, but guilty of Charge II, adultery in violation of Article 134, UCMJ. Subsequent to briefs filed by the appellant and the Government, oral argument was ordered and heard on the issue of whether an Article 134 charge fails to state an offense if the terminal element is not expressly alleged in the specification.

II. ISSUE PRESENTED

Article 134 contains two statutory elements: an accused committed a certain act, and the act was prejudicial to good order and discipline and/or service discrediting. Art. 134, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 934. The appellant argues that the so-called “terminal element” of Article 134 offenses — prejudice to good order and discipline and/or service discredit — must be alleged within the language of the specification where an accused is charged with a violation of Aticle 134. The question presented is whether concepts of fair notice and the holdings of Medina,2 Miller;3 and Jones4 require a departure from 60 years of precedent established by the Court of Appeals for the Amed Forces5 regarding the requirements of pleading Article 134 offenses. We conclude that they do not.

III. PRINCIPLES OF LAW

a. Fair Notice of Article 134

In general, fair notice has two key facets. First, the accused must have fair notice his conduct is subject to criminal sanction. United States v. Saunders, 69 M.J. 1, 6 (C.A.A.F.2003). Second, the accused must have fair notice of the elements against which he must defend. Id. at 9.

With respect to the first facet, traditionally A’ticle 134 has been treated differently from other offenses. In fact, the Supreme Court has recognized the importance of analyzing Aticle 134 “not in vacuo, but in the context in which the years have placed it.” See Parker v. Levy, 417 U.S. 733, 752, 94 S.Ct.

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Related

United States v. Fosler
70 M.J. 225 (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 2011)
United States v. Bernard
69 M.J. 694 (U S Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
69 M.J. 669, 2010 CCA LEXIS 357, 2010 WL 4269601, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-fosler-nmcca-2010.