United States v. Hamilton

36 M.J. 723, 1992 CMR LEXIS 857, 1992 WL 384965
CourtU.S. Army Court of Military Review
DecidedDecember 21, 1992
DocketACMR 9100707
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 36 M.J. 723 (United States v. Hamilton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Army Court of Military Review primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Hamilton, 36 M.J. 723, 1992 CMR LEXIS 857, 1992 WL 384965 (usarmymilrev 1992).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

De GIULIO, Senior Judge:

Appellant was tried by special court-martial composed of officer and enlisted members. Pursuant to his pleas of guilty, he was found guilty of aggravated assault, in violation of Article 128, Uniform Code of Military Justice [hereinafter UCMJ], 10 U.S.C. § 928 (1982). Contrary to his pleas, he was found guilty of failure to obey a lawful general regulation, in violation of Article 92, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 892 (1982). He was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge, confinement for two months, and forfeiture of $502.00 pay per month for two months. The convening authority approved the sentence.

Only two of appellant’s six assertions of error will be discussed in this opinion. They are as follows:

I.
THE FINDINGS AND SENTENCE MUST BE SET ASIDE AND THE CHARGES DISMISSED IN ORDER TO NEGATE THE EFFECTS OF UNLAWFUL COMMAND INFLUENCE IN THE [725]*725PREFERRAL AND REFERRAL OF THE CHARGES.
V.
THE MILITARY JUDGE COMMITTED PLAIN ERROR BY HIS FAILURE, SUA SPONTE, TO PREVENT THE ADMISSION OF EVIDENCE CONCERNING APPELLANT'S NON-JUDICIAL PUNISHMENT BASED ON THE SAME CONDUCT FOR WHICH HE WAS COURT-MARTIALED.

We find these assertions of error without merit. We find there was no unlawful command influence and that the erroneous admission of evidence of nonjudicial punishment was waived. We will, however, take action to ensure appellant receives complete credit for the prior nonjudicial punishment.

Although not asserted, this Court has found that the court members were improperly advised of appellant’s pleas of guilty to the aggravated assault specification during preliminary instructions, without the record indicating appellant’s request that the court members be informed. We will cure that error by affirming the finding of guilty of the aggravated assault only. Because the assertions of error not discussed in this opinion concern the offense not affirmed (failure to obey a general regulation), this Court’s disposition renders them moot. We will reassess the sentence.

Appellant was involved in an altercation with his neighbor, who was also a soldier. During this incident, appellant cut the other soldier on the neck with a hunting knife and on the chest with a razor. Appellant’s company commander punished appellant under the provisions of Article 15, UCMJ. The punishment imposed was forfeiture of $307.00 and performance of seven days of extra duty. Subsequently, the special court-martial convening authority preferred charges against appellant and forwarded them, recommending trial by special court-martial authorized to impose a bad-conduct discharge. Appellant’s trial resulted in a sentence which requires this Court’s review under Article 66(b), UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 866(b).

Before this Court, appellant contends that command influence affected his case, requiring the setting aside of the findings and the sentence. To support this asser- . tion, appellant asked this Court to admit an affidavit of trial defense counsel. That affidavit stated that Sergeant First Class (SFC) Passut, the senior legal clerk for the special court-martial jurisdiction, Division Support Command (DISCOM), 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized), had relayed to counsel that unlawful pressure had been placed upon the special court-martial convening authority to prefer charges. Counsel’s affidavit stated, “SFC Passuit [sic] did not wish to be directly involved in this matter for fear that it could come back to haunt him. His indirect involvement wasn’t a problem, so he gave me the following information as he remembers ...” Based on this affidavit, appellant filed a motion asking this Court to order a hearing in accordance with United States v. DuBay, 37 C.M.R. 411 (C.M.A.1967), and to hold review of the case in abeyance until the hearing was completed. Not being satisfied that that information provided a sufficient basis upon which a hearing should be ordered, this Court denied the motion and ordered government appellant counsel to obtain affidavits from key personnel, to include an affidavit from SFC Passut.1

SFC Passut’s Affidavit

SFC Passut’s subsequent affidavit reflects that he was the senior legal clerk for DISCOM and worked for the special court-martial convening authority, Colonel (COL) Solomon.2 According to SFC Passut, appellant’s company commander had request[726]*726ed him to prepare a company-grade Article 15 to impose on appellant for the incident. Although he questioned the propriety of this action because of the seriousness of the offense, SFC Passut was assured that the offense was not as serious as it appeared and disposition at that level was appropriate. About two weeks later, SFC Passut received a call from Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Keyser, a National Guard judge advocate on active duty for Desert Storm, who was working in the staff judge advocate’s (SJA) office. LTC Keyser informed SFC Passut that he had been given a copy of the police blotter report on the incident by the Chief of Justice, Captain (CPT) Knieb, and was told to follow up on it. SFC Passut informed LTC Keyser that a company-grade Article 15 had already been imposed. LTC Keyser indicated that “it looked like a court-martial offense.” In his affidavit, SFC Passut stated, “During the conversation he agreed with me that the SJA office is an advisory group to assist us and should not dictate to us how a particular case is to be handled or at what level a case is to be handled.” Later, SFC Passut received a call from LTC Keyser. He was informed that an Article 15 was not an acceptable solution and that court-martial charges would have to be preferred. A meeting was set between COL Solomon, LTC Keyser, CPT Knieb, and SFC Passut.

According to SFC Passut, at the meeting, CPT Knieb informed COL Solomon that the Article 15 was not acceptable, that charges would have to be preferred, that COL Solomon could prefer the charges, or they would be preferred at a higher level. COL Solomon was irate when he found an Article 15 had already been imposed, because he felt the offense deserved more than a company-grade Article 15.

After the meeting, COL Solomon wanted to impose a field-grade Article 15, but was correctly advised by SFC Passut that he could not do so. SFC Passut’s affidavit reflects,

[H]e said ‘That doesn’t give me much choice.’ He did not seem pleased. He did not want to go forward with charges at all. That is why he wanted to do something at his level. When I told him that he could not give an article 15, he told me to prepare court-martial charges.

After preferring charges, he recommended a special court-martial empowered to adjudge a bad-conduct discharge (BCD). Although without specific knowledge, SFC Passut’s impression was “that COL Solomon felt that the Commanding General wanted this to be a court-martial. I’d have to say that COL Solomon went with the will of the Commanding General rather than his own.”3 SFC Passut, however, also stated that COL Solomon could be described as “doing what he wanted.” He could not recall COL Solomon being pressured on a case.

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46 M.J. 804 (U S Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals, 1997)
United States v. Hamilton
41 M.J. 32 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1994)
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38 M.J. 566 (U.S. Army Court of Military Review, 1993)
United States v. Lopez
37 M.J. 702 (U.S. Army Court of Military Review, 1993)
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
36 M.J. 723, 1992 CMR LEXIS 857, 1992 WL 384965, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hamilton-usarmymilrev-1992.