United States v. Harvey

8 C.M.A. 538, 8 USCMA 538, 25 C.M.R. 42, 1957 CMA LEXIS 291, 1957 WL 4645
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedDecember 27, 1957
DocketNo. 9768
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 8 C.M.A. 538 (United States v. Harvey) 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. Harvey, 8 C.M.A. 538, 8 USCMA 538, 25 C.M.R. 42, 1957 CMA LEXIS 291, 1957 WL 4645 (cma 1957).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court

HomeR FeRGUSON, Judge:

We granted review in this case to consider certain rulings by the law officer relating to procedural and eviden-tiary matters. The accused stands convicted of having assaulted one [541]*541Rudolph Ryan by shooting him in the arm with a pistol, in violation of Article 128, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC § 928. The facts developed at trial briefly stated are these: On the evening of November 18, 1956, the accused went to a service station, operated by Ryan in Austin, Texas. It appears that there had been previous business dealings between Ryan and the accused, which had been unsatisfactorily concluded, and which had resulted in ill feelings on both sides. Upon arriving at the station, the accused found Ryan and a helper, named Crayton, working under the hood of an automobile. The accused approached the opposite side of the automobile and asked Ryan for something. The latter was .overheard to remark, “ ‘No,’ or something like that.” The accused then proceeded to walk around the front of the automobile to the side on which Ryan was working. He struck Ryan upon the head and, when the latter whirled around, the accused shot him in the arm and ran away.

On the day following the assault, a criminal investigator for the Austin Police Department interrogated the accused at police headquarters. No military investigators were present during this interrogation. The accused was advised, however, pursuant to the “State of Texas statutory warning that he didn’t have to make any statement to us and if any statement was made to us it would be used as evidence against him on his trial.” Without “threats or rewards or promises of benefit” the accused made an oral statement to the investigator. He stated that he had borrowed the pistol from a friend and had gone to see Ryan concerning an overcoat that he had left in his ear on a previous occasion when Ryan had done some repair work. When he started talking to Ryan, he “became a little bit irritated” and hit him over the head with the butt of the pistol. When the latter came out from under the hood of the car, the accused noticed a wrench in his hand and shot him. He knew that he had hit Ryan because “he saw him grab at himself.” He then ran .back to his car and drove off to Temple, Texas. Ryan was not called as a prosecution witness. The accused elected not to testify in his own behalf.

I

The first issue raised concerns the refusal of the convening authority and the law officer to subpoena requested defense witnesses. Before entering a plea, the accused’s individual civilian defense counsel requested a continuance in order that the attendance of certain defense witnesses could be secured. An out-of-court conference was called for the purpose of ruling on this motion. It was established that several days prior to trial, defense counsel had requested trial counsel to subpoena four •civilian witnesses residing in and about Austin, Texas. The record of trial is silent as to whether the request was in writing as required by paragraph 115a, Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1951. Trial counsel had brought the matter to the convening authority’s attention and had advised him that after examining the files of both the Austin Police Department and the Criminal Investigation Detachment he had been unable to find any reference to the requested defense witnesses. He further testified that he had informed defense counsel “that unless he could show some connection between the witnesses that he had requested in the case, that is, that their testimony would be either relevant or material to the case that the convening authority had decided not to subpoena them.” Trial counsel reiterated that the Government was still willing to subpoena those witnesses “if some showing can be made that their testimony would be competent in this case.” Defense counsel then stated that most of the requested witnesses were prepared to testify to the “character and reputation of the chief prosecution witness,” and inasmuch as the issue of self-defense would be raised by the accused, it was relevant to show that the alleged victim of the assault “had a violent character and that such character was known to the accused.” The law officer then inquired of trial counsel if it were possible to consult with defense counsel and “stipulate to what these witnesses would be expected to testify to.” A recess was called to [542]*542permit opposing counsel to confer with the view to arriving at a stipulation of expected testimony. When court reconvened, trial counsel informed the law officer that the Government was prepared to stipulate to the testimony of the witnesses “subject only to the admissibility of the evidence.” The law officer thereupon denied the motion for continuance. At this point defense counsel objected to the necessity of presenting evidence by stipulation rather than by the personal appearance in court of the witnesses. The law officer overruled the objection. No stipulation was proffered.

The accused contends that the refusal of the convening authority to subpoena the requested defense witnesses constituted prejudicial error. He relies on the provisions of Article 46, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC § 846, which provides that trial counsel, defense counsel, and the court-martial “shall have equal opportunity to obtain witnesses and other evidence.” The Government, on the other hand, takes the position that inasmuch as trial counsel was prepared to enter into a stipulation of the expected testimony of the witnesses and in the absence of a showing that such a stipulation would be an inadequate substitute for the personal appearance of the witnesses, the law officer ruled correctly in not requiring the trial counsel to issue compulsory process.

We recently had occasion to consider an analogous problem in United States v Thornton, 8 USCMA 446, 24 CMR 256. There, the accused officer was convicted inter alia of the offense of larceny. The evidence showed that he had been assigned as officer in charge of the post craft shop. While serving in that capacity, he employed a scheme whereby he would report a number of overtime hours for enlisted employees — who were paid for extra service — which exceeded that actually worked. The enlisted men would receive payment on the overstated amounts and the overage was then turned over to the accused. Prior to trial, the defense counsel had submitted a written request to the convening authority for the subpoena of a former officer who had been the accused’s predecessor in the craft shop. It was alleged that the requested witness would testify that while on duty it had been suggested to him by the accused’s commanding officer that he could receive compensation for his extra work by adopting the plan subsequently used by the accused. There was no evidence that the convening authority personally acted on the request; however, it was denied by the acting staff judge advocate. At trial, the accused — who defended on the grounds that he was honestly mistaken as to his authority to utilize the plan for payment of compensation — renewed his request for the presence of the witness, which was denied by the law officer. Thereupon, opposing counsel joined in a stipulation as to the testimony which would have been given had the witness been present in court. In holding that the denial of the accused’s request for subpoena of the witness was prejudicial, we said:

“An accused cannot be forced to present the testimony of a material witness on his behalf by way of stipulation or deposition.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
8 C.M.A. 538, 8 USCMA 538, 25 C.M.R. 42, 1957 CMA LEXIS 291, 1957 WL 4645, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-harvey-cma-1957.