United States v. Harris

29 M.J. 169, 1989 CMA LEXIS 3567, 1989 WL 110536
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedSeptember 27, 1989
DocketNo. 60,479; CM 8701219
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 29 M.J. 169 (United States v. Harris) 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. Harris, 29 M.J. 169, 1989 CMA LEXIS 3567, 1989 WL 110536 (cma 1989).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court

EVERETT, Chief Judge:

Contrary to his pleas,1 appellant was convicted by special court-martial including enlisted members of leaving his place of duty without authority, disrespect toward a superior noncommissioned officer, disobeying a noncommissioned officer, resisting apprehension, and drunk driving, in violation of Articles 86, 91, 95, and 111, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC §§ 886, 891, 895, and 911, respectively. He was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge, confinement and forfeiture of $200.00 pay per month for 3 months, and reduction to private E-l. The convening authority approved only so much of the sentence as provides for a bad-eonduet discharge (suspended for 6 months), confinement for 34 days, forfeiture of $200.00 pay for 1 month, and reduction to private E-l. The Court of Military Review affirmed the findings and sentence. 25 MJ 909 (1988). We granted review of this issue raised by appellate defense counsel:

WHETHER THE EVIDENCE IS INSUFFICIENT AS A MATTER OF LAW TO SUPPORT A CONVICTION FOR RESISTING APPREHENSION.

I

At 2:30 a.m. on February 22, 1987, a military policeman, Corporal Mitchell, observed Harris speeding through a red light in Fort Riley, Kansas. Mitchell turned on his siren and emergency lights and pursued appellant through the base and into the civilian community. A witness testified that the siren could be heard from as far as a mile away. The chase was conducted at speeds of 75 miles per hour through a 45-mile-an-hour zone. Mitchell testified that he was as close as 15 to 20 yards to appellant’s car during the chase.

Harris drove into a trailer park, abandoned the car, and fled into a wooded area even though Mitchell shouted, “Hold it, Military Police.” After a short time, appellant was observed surreptitiously trying to enter his trailer and was apprehended. He offered no resistance at that time.

Mitchell testified that his original intent had been to make an administrative stop, rather than an apprehension. After the stop, he would have decided whether to apprehend appellant. The policeman also testified that he did not consider the action he had taken before arriving at the trailer park to be part of the apprehension.

II

A

Article 95 provides:

Any person subject to this chapter who resists apprehension or breaks arrest or who escapes from custody or confinement shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

(Emphasis added.)

“Apprehension is the taking of a person into custody” by a person in authority. Art. 7, UCMJ, 10 USC § 807; see also RCM 302(a)(1), Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1984. In military law, it is the equivalent of an arrest in civilian practice. On the other hand, “arrest” in military law is a term of art and means “the restraint of a person by an order, not imposed as a punishment for an offense, directing him to remain within certain specified limits.” Art. 9, UCMJ, 10 USC § 809.

According to paragraph 19(b)(1), Part IV, Manual, supra, the elements of the offense of resisting apprehension are:

[171]*171(a) That a certain person attempted to apprehend the accused;
(b) That said person was authorized to apprehend the accused; and
(c) That the accused actively resisted the apprehension.

Under Article 80 of the Code, 10 USC § 880, “specific intent” is necessary for an “attempt” to commit a crime. Likewise, we are sure that for the crime of resisting apprehension, there must have been a “specific intent” on the part of the person attempting the apprehension. See United States v. Baker, 22 B.R. 131, 135 (1943). Thus, a policeman’s intent to stop a vehicle for purposes of investigation is not sufficient—see Smith v. State, 739 S.W.2d 848, 850 (Tex.Cr.App.1987); he must intend to apprehend the occupant of the vehicle.

In this respect, the Government’s evidence against Harris was deficient. The military policeman, Corporal Mitchell, never testified unequivocally that he intended to apprehend Harris while pursuing him on the highway. The majority in the court below conceded that his testimony was “ambiguous”; but Judge Robblee, dissenting, stated that “the evidence in the case at bar, particularly the testimony of the arresting officer alluded to in the majority opinion, does not convince me beyond a reasonable doubt that the arresting officer was attempting an apprehension while in hot pursuit.” 25 MJ at 913. The majority ultimately disposed of the “ambiguity” with this observation:

The law regarding apprehension, however, does not turn on the police officer’s subjective motive. What matters is what he communicated to the appellant. See United States v. Sanford, 12 M.J. 170, 174 (C.M.A.1981) (objective-circumstances test applied to determine whether appellant was being restrained for law enforcement purposes). Rule for Courts-Martial 302(d)(1) has the same objective standard which provides that notice for apprehension “may be implied by the circumstances.”

25 MJ at 911.

Certainly, as the majority recognized, a person cannot be convicted of resisting arrest unless in some way he was made aware that “a certain person” was attempting to apprehend him. Of course, the circumstances here — especially the hot pursuit by a police car with lights and sirens — gave Harris ample reason to believe that a police officer was trying to apprehend him.

This, however, is not decisive, for it still was necessary that Corporal Mitchell possess the specific intent to apprehend Harris. Unfortunately for the Government’s case, Mitchell, in his testimony — despite being questioned closely on this point — never was willing to say that, while in pursuit of appellant, he at any time intended to apprehend him. This testimony is somewhat implausible for, typically, a military policeman in hot pursuit at high speeds with siren on and lights blazing intends to apprehend the person whom he is pursuing. We must, however, take the record of trial as we find it; and it does not contain the necessary evidence of specific intent on the part of the military policeman.

B

A more basic problem with the Government’s case is that no evidence was offered that Harris “resisted” any apprehension which might have been intended by Corporal Mitchell during the pursuit. The Government argues that to flee from a police officer attempting apprehension is to “resist” the apprehension. This contention is supported by the Manual for Courts-Martial, which uses this language:

(c) Nature of the resistance. The resistance must be active, such as assaulting the person attempting to apprehend or flight.

Para. 19c(l)(c) (emphasis added). The two preceding Manuals defined “resisting apprehension” in this fashion:

Resisting apprehension consists of an active resistance to the restraint attempted to be imposed by the person apprehending. The resistance may be accomplished by flight or by assaulting or [172]*172striking the person attempting to apprehend.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 M.J. 169, 1989 CMA LEXIS 3567, 1989 WL 110536, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-harris-cma-1989.