United States v. Hightower

5 C.M.A. 385, 5 USCMA 385, 18 C.M.R. 9, 1955 CMA LEXIS 469, 1955 WL 3276
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedJanuary 7, 1955
DocketNo. 4879
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 5 C.M.A. 385 (United States v. Hightower) 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. Hightower, 5 C.M.A. 385, 5 USCMA 385, 18 C.M.R. 9, 1955 CMA LEXIS 469, 1955 WL 3276 (cma 1955).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court

ROBERT E. Quinn, Chief Judge:

The accused was convicted of perjury and subornation of perjury. We granted his petition for review to consider the validity of the post-trial review by the Staff Judge Advocate.

Early in 1953, the accused and one Borden were tried by a special court-martial for attempted larceny of gasoline. At the trial, the accused testified that he had béen authorized by an Airman Moye to siphon some gasoline [387]*387from his 1939 Ford automobile. Moye told him where the car was parked. Arriving at the place, he found an automobile of like manufacture. He inserted a hose into the gasoline tank and was about to siphon out some gas when he was interrupted by an air policeman. Investigation disclosed that the automobile was not the 1939 car purportedly belonging to Moye. Instead, it was a 1940 vehicle owned by another person. Moye also testified at the trial. His testimony was substantially to the same eifect as that of the accused. Some months later, Moye was tried and convicted for giving perjured testimony at this trial. Contemporaneously, charges were filed against the accused for having suborned Moye, and for falsely testifying at the special court-martial trial.

Captain J. L. Hudson acted as Trial Counsel in the perjury prosecution of Moye. He was also appointed Trial Counsel in the special orders designating the general court-martial before which the accused was brought to trial. The record shows that he was absent at the trial, and that the case was tried by the Assistant Trial Counsel. After the trial, however, Captain Hudson appears as the person who conducted the post-trial review and prepared the formal staff judge advocate’s review, in accordance with the provisions of Article 61 of the Uniform Code, 50 USC § 648. The review is signed by him as Assistant Staff Judge Advocate. In it is a parenthetic note regarding his appointment as Trial Counsel. The note states that “at no time did I participate either in the prosecution or preparation for prosecution of this case.” Following Captain Hudson’s signature is a statement by the Acting Staff Judge Advocate, which reads: “I have read the record of trial. I concur.” It is now contended that Captain Hudson was disqualified from conducting the post-trial review and, because of his disqualification, the review is a nullity.

In United States v. Coulter, 3 USCMA 657, 14 CMR 75, we pointed out that, under the provi- sions of Article 6 (e) of the Uniform Code, 50 USC § 556, the person who acts as trial counsel in a case cannot later act as the staff judge advocate in the preparation of the post-trial review. We 'held that such duality of function constitutes prejudicial error. See also, United States v. Clisson, 5 USCMA 277, 17 CMR 277. Here, Captain Hudson was the appointed Trial Counsel. Although he did not try the case, it may ordinarily be presumed that he entered upon the performance of his regular duties as Trial Counsel immediately after the case was referred for trial. Manual, paragraph 6a, page 10. However, Captain Hudson’s review contains a positive statement that he did not in any way participate in the preparation of the case. The statement is presented informally, but no one has contested its truthfulness. Therefore, we are willing to accept Captain Hudson’s nonpartici-pation in this case as an established fact. See United States v. Schuller, 5 USCMA 101, 17 CMR 101. Such acceptance does not dispose of our problem; it removes only one obstacle.

Article 6(c) of the Uniform Code, supra, prohibits the trial counsel from subsequently serving as staff judge advocate in the post-trial proceedings “upon the same case.” The Government and the accused sharply disagree on the application of the quoted phrase to-the circumstances of this case. The former regards the Moye court-martial and the present trial as separate proceedings. Conversely, the latter contends that the phrase must be liberally construed so as to include all cases arising out of the same transaction, whether these cases are tried separately or in common.

This Court has not had occasion to construe the controverted phrase as it appears in Article 6(c). However, in United States v. Stringer, 4 USCMA 494, 16 CMR 68, we considered Article 27 (a), 50 USC § 591, which contains like language. Each of these articles of the Uniform Code prohibits persons who act in one capacity “in any case” from thereafter performing duties in an inconsistent capacity in “the same case.” The plain purpose of these provisions is to preclude situations which impair or destroy the fairness and impartiality of the proceedings against [388]*388the accused. Additionally, each Article is directly derived from former Article of War 11, 10 USC § 1482. Hearings before House Committee on Armed Services, 81st Congress, 1st Session, on H.R. 2498, pages 898, 1155. In view of the similarity of purpose and the single source from which derived, we believe that Congress intended to give identical meaning to the phrase, “the same case” which appears in both Articles. See United States v. Best, 4 USCMA 581, 16 CMR 155. Consequently, for guidance we may properly look to the Stringer case and to other cases which have construed the phrase as used in Article 27(a).

A number of Air -Force boards of review have held that the phrase “in the same case,” as it appears in Article 27 (a), must be accorded a liberal construction. Typical is United States v. Homan [ACM 4612], 6 CMR 504. In that case three persons had participated in the larceny and wrongful disposition of the property of a fellow airman. One of the three was tried and convicted by a special court-martial. Later, the defense counsel in that case was appointed, and acted, as trial counsel in the prosecution of the eoaccused. Holding that this change in capacity violated the provisions of Article 27(a), the board of review said (page 507):

. . While a narrow construction of the expression ‘in the same case’ might support the conclusion that the instant situation is not included within the above-quoted provision, neither in the Code nor in the Manual do we find any indication that a narrow construction is necessary, desirable or appropriate.”

The board of review below adopted the same broad construction. However, the Government contends that in United States v. Stringer, supra, this Court limited the rationale of these opinions. Although in the Stringer case, the Court was divided in result, there was plain agreement that the phrase must be given a liberal interpretation. The majority opinion distinguished the facts before it from those in United States v. Homan, supra, but it took care to announce agreement with Homan in that particular. Thus, it said:

“. . . Indeed, we wholly agree with the view expressed in that case to the effect that a narrow construction of the phrase ‘in the same case’ would subvert the manifest intent of the statute.”

With the scope of the statute established, we turn to the facts of this case. Moye and the accused were charged with giving false testimony at the same judicial proceedings and with regard to the same material facts. True, the accused was also charged with subornation of perjury, but since the suborned testimony is Moye’s, this offense only emphasizes the common nature of the charges. In essence, therefore, the subornation charge is inseparable from the perjury charge. See: United States v. Silverman, 106 F2d 750 (CA 3d Cir 1939).

Realistically then, the accused and Moye were coaccused, tried separately for the same offense. Moye was convicted.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Wheeler
56 M.J. 919 (Army Court of Criminal Appeals, 2002)
United States v. Hamilton
47 M.J. 32 (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 1997)
United States v. McCormick
34 M.J. 752 (U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review, 1992)
United States v. Beard
15 M.J. 768 (U S Air Force Court of Military Review, 1983)
United States v. Kemp
7 M.J. 760 (U.S. Army Court of Military Review, 1979)
United States v. Brownd
6 M.J. 338 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1979)
United States v. Thompson
3 M.J. 966 (U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review, 1977)
United States v. Markland
2 M.J. 356 (U S Air Force Court of Military Review, 1977)
United States v. Sims
2 M.J. 499 (U.S. Army Court of Military Review, 1976)
United States v. Hayes
2 M.J. 420 (U.S. Army Court of Military Review, 1975)
United States v. Jolliff
22 C.M.A. 95 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1973)
United States v. Marsh
20 C.M.A. 42 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1970)
United States v. Metz
16 C.M.A. 140 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1966)
United States v. Dodge
13 C.M.A. 525 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1963)
United States v. Mallicote
13 C.M.A. 374 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1962)
United States v. Erb
12 C.M.A. 524 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1961)
United States v. Hardy
11 C.M.A. 521 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1960)
United States v. Hurt
9 C.M.A. 735 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1958)
United States v. Albright
9 C.M.A. 628 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1958)
United States v. Washington
9 C.M.A. 589 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
5 C.M.A. 385, 5 USCMA 385, 18 C.M.R. 9, 1955 CMA LEXIS 469, 1955 WL 3276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hightower-cma-1955.