United States v. Harder

17 M.J. 1058
CourtU S Air Force Court of Military Review
DecidedDecember 30, 1983
DocketACM 23677
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 17 M.J. 1058 (United States v. Harder) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U S Air Force 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. Harder, 17 M.J. 1058 (usafctmilrev 1983).

Opinion

DECISION UPON FURTHER REVIEW

FORAY, Senior Judge:

This case is again before us for review.

On 18 January 1983, this Court affirmed the findings of guilty and sentence in the case. Unpublished opinion: United States v. Harder, ACM 23677 (A.F.C.M.R. 18 January 1983). Thereafter, the accused exercised his right to petition the Court of Military Appeals for a grant of review in his case. Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 67(b)(3), 10 U.S.C. § 867(b)(3). On 18 May 1983, that Court granted the accused’s petition for review1 on the following issues raised by appellate defense counsel:

I. Whether the appellant can lawfully be found guilty of both an Article 108 and an Article 121 offense involving the same government (sic) property.
II. Whether such deprivations as lack of prompt clemency consideration and inability to qualify for parole because of delayed designation of the place of confinement can ever constitute prejudice within the meaning of United States v. Banks, 7 M.J. 92 (C.M.A.1979), and United States v. Clevidence, 14 M.J. 17 (C.M.A.1982).

On 24 June 1983, appellate Government counsel moved before the Court of Military Appeals for a remand of the case to this Court and, in the alternative, for other relief. The Court of Military Appeals granted appellee’s motions on 7 September 1983, and returned the record of trial to the Judge Advocate General for remand to this Court for further review.2 Appellee had urged remand was necessary because the [1060]*1060following factual disputes as to Issue II had not been previously resolved by this Court:

a. Whether appellant’s delayed arrival at the Disciplinary Barracks affected his actual versus regulatory parole eligibility.
b. Whether appellant’s denial of parole [was] due to lack of observation time available or due to his own conduct.

I

At trial the accused had been convicted, among other offenses, of stealing copper tubing and other military property at divers times between 1 January and 31 October 1981 and of wrongfully selling some of that copper tubing on 15 October 1981. During the sentencing portion of the trial the accused’s counsel requested the military judge to consider the larceny and wrongful sale offenses as multiplicious for sentencing purposes. (Charge I and Charge II) The request was denied. The question of multiplicity for sentencing was not raised by trial defense counsel in his Goode3 response to the staff judge advocate's review nor was it raised before this Court at its initial review. The question of multiplicity for purposes of findings regarding these offenses was not raised at all until after this Court’s original review of the case.

It is clear that an accused may be charged and found guilty of multiple charges arising out of the same act or transaction. The Manual for Courts-Martial, 1969 (Rev.), paragraph 266 provides:

One transaction, or what is substantially one transaction, should not be made the basis for an unreasonable multiplication of charges against one person ____ There are times, however, when sufficient doubt as to the facts or law exists to warrant making one transaction the basis for charging two or more offenses. (Emphasis supplied).

As to findings, M.C.M., paragraph 746(4) states, regarding offenses arising out of the same act or transaction:

The accused may be found guilty of two or more offenses arising out of the same act or transaction without regard to whether the offenses are separate.

This latter rule is not without its exceptions and the Court of Military Appeals has attempted to carve them out within the purview of the Constitution and the U.C. M.J. United States v. Baker, 14 M.J. 361 (C.M.A.1983); United States v. Doss, 15 M.J. 409 (C.M.A.1983); United States v. Allen, 16 M.J. 395 (C.M.A.1983); Article 79, U.C.M.J., 10 U.S.C. § 879. The attempts to explain the principles applicable in treating multiple charges arising out of one transaction leave us at sea.

In Doss, supra, the Court of Military Appeals recognized the confusion existing in its precedents in the matter and offered further comment. Examples were provided where, as a matter of law, an accused would be entitled to dismissal of certain charges because of multiplicity. These were:

1. Where conviction on multiple offenses involved inconsistent findings of fact. See, e.g,, United States v. Cartwright, 13 M.J. 174 (C.M.A.1982).
2. Where there was a conviction of two offenses which were identical crimes, one finding would have to be set aside. United States v. Gibson, 11 M.J. 435 (C.M.A.1981).
3. Where there is a conviction of two offenses arising out of the same transaction where one offense is lesser included with the other. See, e.g., United States v. Stegall, 6 M.J. 176 (C.M.A.1979); accord, United States v. Mallery, 14 M.J. 212 (C.M.A.1982); United States v. Neverson, 11 M.J. 153 (C.M.A.1981).

Applying these principles to the case before us we find that there was no “unreasonable multiplication” of charges when the convening authority ordered the accused tried for larceny and for the [1061]*1061wrongful sale of some of the military property stolen. United States v. Middleton, 12 U.S.C.M.A. 54, 30 C.M.R. 54 (1960); M.C.M., paragraph 266. The resultant conviction of the accused of these offenses did not involve inconsistent findings of fact; they were not identical crimes; and one offense was not lesser included within the other. United States v. Baker, United States v. Doss, United States v. Allen, all supra. In this latter regard, where both offenses arise out of one act or transaction, one offense may be lesser-included within the other in two situations:

First, where one offense contains only elements of, but not all the elements of the other offense; second, where one offense contains different elements as a matter of law from the other offense, but these different elements are fairly embraced in the factual allegations of the other offense and established by evidence introduced at trial.

United States v. Baker, supra. Our evaluation of the language of the two specifications before us compels the conclusion that neither of the two Baker tests have been met. United States v. Holt, 16 M.J. 393 (C.M.A.1983); United States v. Allen, supra; United States v. Glover, 16 M.J. 397 (C.M.A.1983); see United States v. Murphy, 18 U.S.C.M.A. 571, 40 C.M.R. 283 (1969).

Having found that the accused was properly convicted of larceny and wrongful sale of military property we must next determine whether he was properly punished separately for each offense. M.C.M., paragraphs 746 (4) and 76a (5).

At trial the prosecution successfully offered the accused’s pretrial statement into evidence. In it the accused said he “picked up a couple containers of copper tubing” on 14 October 1981.

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19 M.J. 741 (U S Air Force Court of Military Review, 1984)

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17 M.J. 1058, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-harder-usafctmilrev-1983.