United States v. Graves

47 M.J. 632, 1997 CCA LEXIS 584, 1997 WL 757712
CourtArmy Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedDecember 3, 1997
DocketARMY 9401271
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 47 M.J. 632 (United States v. Graves) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Army 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. Graves, 47 M.J. 632, 1997 CCA LEXIS 584, 1997 WL 757712 (acca 1997).

Opinion

[634]*634OPINION OF THE COURT AND ACTION ON PETITION FOR NEW TRIAL ON RECONSIDERATION

GONZALES, Judge:

A panel of officer and enlisted members, in a capital case, found the appellant guilty of attempted rape, premeditated murder, felony murder while engaged in the perpetration of an attempted rape, and assault with the intent to commit rape in violation of Articles 80, 118(1), 118(4), and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 880, 918(1), 918(4), and 934 (1988) [hereinafter UCMJ]. The convening authority approved the adjudged sentence of a dishonorable discharge, confinement for life, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and reduction to Private El.

Before this court, the appellant asserts, inter alia, in his Article 66, UCMJ, appeal: (1) that the offense of assault with the intent to commit rape is multiplicious with the offense of attempted rape, and (2) that the evidence is legally insufficient to support the findings of guilty as to the three offenses other than premeditated murder because it fails to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the appellant possessed the specific intent to rape.

On 16 September 1997, we issued an opinion of the court in which we agreed with only the first assignment of error. In addition, we held that the felony murder charge was multiplicious with both the premeditated murder and attempted rape specifications. We also denied the appellant’s petition for a new trial. Upon a Motion for Reconsideration of Denial of New Trial and Request for Sentence Relief, filed by the appellant on 20 October 1997, we vacated our original opinion on 19 November 1997. United States v. Graves, ARMY 9401271 (Army Ct.Crim.App.1997)(order)(unpub.). We have reconsidered our denial of the appellant’s petition for new trial and in light of the matters submitted by the appellant, we adhere to our original decision.1

I. The Facts

Under our Article 66, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C.A. § 866, powers, we find the following facts in this case. The appellant knew his victim, Second Lieutenant (2LT) Bryant, as an officer who worked in the Protocol Office of the same ROTC advanced summer camp at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, that he was also supporting. Shortly after 0200 hours on 10 July 1993, 2LT Bryant was alone and using the public telephone located in the lobby of the second floor of Hardy Hall, a transient billeting facility. The appellant, whose room was also located on the second floor of Hardy Hall, approached 2LT Bryant and interrupted the conversation she had just started with her boyfriend in California. The appellant subsequently left the lobby area, but returned at about 0255 hours.

In the interim, the appellant made or completed preparations to effect his plan to have sexual intercourse with 2LT Bryant, without her consent and by force if necessary. Making prussic handcuff knots,2 the appellant meticulously tied a black bootlace to three of the four lifting straps of the box spring mattress of one of the beds in his room. Two of these bootlaces were tied to the straps located on each side of the foot of the mattress. The third was tied to a strap located on one side at the head of the mattress. On the opposite side of the head of the mattress, he draped a fourth prussic handcuff knotted bootlace over the bed’s headboard.3 He retrieved a loaded .357 magnum pistol from a black bag in the closet. Finally, he turned the bolt lock of the door to his room so that the bolt was protruding.4

After ensuring that his room was prepared, the appellant executed several overt [635]*635acts tending to effect Ms plan. He left Ms room and again approached 2LT Bryant, who was still on the phone with her boyfriend. He caused her to stop talldng in mid-sentence and to hang up the receiver. He forced her to move down the hallway to his room. He pushed open the propped door to Ms room and attempted to force 2LT Bryant inside and towards the bed. Second Lieutenant Bryant resisted entering further into the room. The intensity of the appellant’s efforts to overcome her resistance was so brutal that he ripped an earring from her left ear, broke her gold chain necklace, and dislodged a shoe from her right foot. He eventually resorted to his loaded .357 magnum pistol in order to subdue her. She cried out, “No! Please!” The appellant, with premeditation, silenced her screams by intentionally shooting her at least twice, causing her to fall to the floor in the hallway. As she lay there, the appellant stood over her and intentionally shot her again, at least twice more. She died at approximately 0300 hours after suffering multiple bullet wounds to her head, neck, and upper back. No single shot could be identified as the one that caused 2LT Bryant’s death.5

II. Assault With the Intent to Commit Rape and Attempted Rape

Applying the rationale expressed in part V of United States v. Weymouth, 43 M.J. 329, 338-40 (1995); United States v. Edwards, 35 M.J. 351, 356-57 (C.M.A.1992); and United States v. Gibson, 11 M.J. 435 (C.M.A.1981), we agree with the government’s concession that the assault with the intent to commit rape is, in tMs case, part of the attempted rape. Both offenses essentially arose out of the same series of identical acts. Although there may have been sufficient doubt as to the facts to warrant making what was essentially one transaction the basis for charging two separate offenses, no clear exigencies of proof remained after findings to warrant appellant’s conviction for separate offenses. The appellant’s overt acts from the time he forced 2LT Bryant off the phone until he shot her the first time constituted one continuous attempt to rape her that consisted of several increasingly forceful and violent assaults. Accordingly, we will dismiss the assault with the intent to commit rape offense as being multiplicious with the attempted rape offense.

III. Legal Sufficiency

Therefore, we will address the appellant’s second contention of legal insufficiency of the evidence as applied to the two remaining sexual offenses of attempted rape and felony murder committed during the course of an attempted rape. The elements of proof of attempted rape are:

(1) that the accused did a certain overt act;

(2) that the act was done with the specific intent to commit rape;

(3) that the act amounted to more than mere preparation; and,

(4) that the act apparently tended to effect the commission of the rape.

Manual for Courts-Martial, UMted States, (1995 edition), Part IV, para. 4b [hereinafter MCM, 1995].

The elements of proof of felony murder committed during the course of the attempted rape are:

(1) that a certain person is dead;

(2) that the death resulted from the act or omission of the accused;

(3) that the killing was unlawful; and,

(4) that, at the time of the killing, the accused was engaged in the attempted perpetration of rape.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
47 M.J. 632, 1997 CCA LEXIS 584, 1997 WL 757712, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-graves-acca-1997.