United States v. Johnson

10 M.J. 213, 1981 CMA LEXIS 16694
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedJanuary 26, 1981
DocketNo. 38,347; NCM 79-1195
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 10 M.J. 213 (United States v. Johnson) 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. Johnson, 10 M.J. 213, 1981 CMA LEXIS 16694 (cma 1981).

Opinions

OPINION

COOK, Judge:

In United States v. Banks, 7 M.J. 92 (C.M.A.1979), the Court terminated the rule promulgated in Dunlap v. Convening Authority, 23 U.S.C.M.A. 135, 48 C.M.R. 751 (1974), regarding speedy review at the command level of the record of conviction of an accused ordered into post-conviction confinement or placed under other significant restraint. A perceived ambiguity in the Banks opinion has resulted in different applications of its precept by different service appellate tribunals. Compare United States v. Brewer, 9 M.J. 509 (A.F.C.M.R. 1980), certificate for review filed, 9 M.J. 16 (C.M.A.1980), with United States v. Figueroa, 8 M.J. 802 (N.C.M.R.1980), certificate for review filed, 9 M.J. 3 (C.M.A.1980). As authorized by Article 67(b)(2), Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 867(b)(2), the Judge Advocate General of the Navy has certified two questions to this Court respecting the correctness of the application of Banks by the Court of Military Review in this case.1 (8 M.J. 178).

Writing for this Court in Banks, Judge Perry reviewed the necessity for continua[214]*214tion of the presumption postulated in Dunlap that an accused is prejudiced if, following conviction, he has been continuously confined or otherwise significantly deprived of his freedom and final action on his case is taken at the command level more than 90 days thereafter. He determined that changes in courts-martial procedure since Dunlap made continuation of the presumption inappropriate. Accordingly, he concluded that it should no longer obtain.

Three passages in Judge Perry’s opinion allude to the time the Dunlap presumption would be inoperative. In the first, Judge Perry said:

[Application of the [Dunlap] rule to cases such as are included in the certified question[2] shall not be required from and after the date of this decision.

7 M.J. at 93 (emphasis supplied). The second and third passages appear in the penultimate paragraph of the opinion. The first sentence of the text, which sets out the Court’s affirmative answer to the certified question, includes footnote 3, where Judge Perry stated that “any announced change in the law must be prospective.” Id. This sentence upheld the Court of Military Review’s application of the Dunlap presumption “to the instant case.” The second sentence of 'the text particularized the prospective nature of the decision and declared that “cases tried subsequent to this opinion .. .-will be tested for prejudice. See United States v. Gray, 22 U.S.C.M.A. 443, 47 C.M.R. 484 (1973).” Id. at 93-94. Gray typified the rule that prevailed prior to promulgation of the Dunlap presumption of prejudice.

Here, the accused was placed in post-conviction confinement on March 5, 1979. Action by the supervisory authority was accomplished on June 4, 1979. Thus, the interval between post-conviction confinement and final command level review was 91 days. Under the Dunlap rule, as applied to the supervisory authority’s review of a special court-martial conviction,3 determination of the timeliness of the review had, therefore, to start with the presumption that the delay was prejudicial to the accused. However, the Court of Military Review refused to apply the presumption. It construed the Banks statement that Dunlap would be inoperative as to “cases tried subsequent to” promulgation of the opinion as merely “an inadvertent use of a phrase normally reserved for rule changes that affect the conduct of the trial itself,” and disregarded it as not indicative of the “real intent of the Court.” United States v. Johnson, NCM 79-1195 (unpublished) (N.C.M.R. Nov. 6, 1979). The court also disregarded the footnote statement that “any announced change in the law must be prospective.” 7 M.J. at 93 n. 3. That left it with the first statement in Banks, specifically that “application of the [Dunlap] rule . . . shall not be required from and after the date of this decision,” which it construed to terminate the Dunlap presumption, notwithstanding that final command action had been completed before publication of Banks on June 18, 1979.

Neither party to a lawsuit has a vested right in existing rules of evidence, but a retroactive change of an evidentiary rule which “alters . . . [an accused’s] situation to his disadvantage,” is impermissible. 16A C.J.S. Constitutional Law § 435. See Government of Virgin Islands v. Civil, 591 F.2d 255 (3d Cir. 1979). Since final action on the accused’s conviction occurred on the 91st day after imposition of post-conviction confinement, a rule that directs disregard of the presumption of prejudice already inherent in that action would raise a serious question whether it violates the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto change in the criminal law. U.S.Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 3.

As Banks twice stressed that termination of the Dunlap presumption was to be [215]*215prospective, understandably it did not consider whether retroactive disregard of a presumption which had become fully operative under previous law would violate the Constitution. However, a number of cases in the posture of Banks were pending in this Court. After promulgation of the Banks. opinion, the Court acted in these cases; in each, it applied the Dunlap presumption: United States v. Terry L. Johnson, 7 M.J. 473 (C.M.A.1979); United States v. Mosley, 7 M.J. 209 (C.M.A.1979); United States v. Tucker, 7 M.J. 209 (C.M.A.1979); and United States v. Sawyer, 7 M.J. 195 (C.M.A.1979). Broadly viewed, those cases imply that the Court construed Banks as not terminating the Dunlap presumption in a case in which command level review was final before publication of the Banks opinion. So viewed, the Court of Military Review erred in its determination that the Dunlap rule did not apply to this accused’s case. Arguably, however, the successor cases may be viewed as indicating only that they were decided as they were because they were pending before the Court at the time of promulgation of Banks. From that standpoint, they would not necessarily be determinative of this case, which was docketed almost 6 months after publication of Banks. (8 M.J. 178).

Banks declared that the end of the Dunlap presumption “must be prospective”; the decision in the case affirmed application of the presumption to a determination of the timeliness of command action that was final at the time of publication of the opinion. Had the opinion rested on that declaration and decision, it would have left open to doubt whether the Dunlap rule would also apply to a case in which the accused had been under significant post-conviction restraint, but the presumption of prejudice was still inchoate because more than 90 days from imposition of restraint had not yet elapsed. In my opinion, Judge Perry’s final comment on the presumption laid that doubt to rest-Dunlap would be inoperative only as to “cases tried” after

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Bluebook (online)
10 M.J. 213, 1981 CMA LEXIS 16694, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-johnson-cma-1981.