United States v. Johnson

15 M.J. 676
CourtU S Air Force Court of Military Review
DecidedJanuary 21, 1983
DocketACM 23556
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 15 M.J. 676 (United States v. Johnson) 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. Johnson, 15 M.J. 676 (usafctmilrev 1983).

Opinions

DECISION

KASTL, Senior Judge:

Airman Johnson stands before us convicted of sabotage of two RF — 4 aircraft in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2155, willful damage to military property of the United States, and aggravated arson, in violation of Articles 134, 108, and 126, U.C.M.J., 10 U.S.C. §§ 934, 908, and 926. The accused was tried by general court-martial. He pleaded guilty to willfully damaging one RF — 4 aircraft, in violation of Article 108, U.C.M.J. He pleaded not guilty to all other offenses charged. He was sentenced by a court consisting of members to a dishonorable discharge, confinement at hard labor for 30 years, total forfeitures, and reduction to airman basic. The convening authority approved the sentence except for reducing the period of confinement to 20 years.

We disapprove the convictions for sabotage, approve the remaining findings, and reassess the sentence.

I

The accused avers that the evidence is insufficient to support a conviction for sabotage, under 18 U.S.C. 2155. The evidence reflects that on 8 September 1981, the accused deliberately placed a bolt in the air intake of the number two engine of aircraft 66-397 just prior to engine start. During the same day, he placed a similar bolt in either the forward engine bay or the variramp of aircraft 66 — 457. The bolt was ingested into the number two engine while the aircraft was airborne. Damage to each aircraft was in excess of $26,000.00. After reviewing the legislative history and the limited case law available, we agree with the accused.

Section 2155 reads, in pertinent part:

(a) Whoever, with intent to injure, interfere with, or obstruct the national defense of the United States, willfully injures, destroys, contaminates or infects, or attempts to so injure, destroy, contaminate or infect any national-defense material, national-defense premises, or national-defense utilities, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both (emphasis added).

In light of this clear-cut standard, we have considered the facts of the case, and weighed the accused’s frame of mind as explained in the record: “I was angry; I [678]*678was upset. I was thinking about all of my problems that I had. But I had no intentions whatsoever to interfere with or destruct the national defense — no intentions whatsoever.”

Intent is the crucial factor. Under the circumstances, we are not persuaded that the accused intended sabotage. As the Court of Military Appeals clearly stated in United States v. Stewart, 19 U.S.C.M.A. 417, 42 C.M.R. 19, 21 (1970):

unless the necessary intent to commit sabotage can be reasonably inferred from the fact of the act itself, the accused’s conviction must fall for lack of sufficient evidence.

See also United States v. Reyes, 30 C.M.R. 776 (A.F.B.R.1960), pet. denied, 30 C.M.R. 417.

In a thoughtful dissent, Judge Snyder has researched this matter extensively. Simply put, we disagree with his conclusion that sabotage is proved here.

Several points must be made.

First, authority is scant. No one has ever been successfully prosecuted under this precise statute. Neither civilian nor military case law in the 60-odd years since the statute was originally passed appears to support the dissenting position; thus, each of the military precedents must be laboriously distinguished. The legislative history is opaque and confusing, at best.

Second, convictions under similar statutes, such as 18 U.S.C. 2153(a), are inapposite. United States v. Achtenberg, 459 F.2d 91, 98 (8th Cir.1972). This is so because Section 2153(a) contains an additional clause for time of war/national emergency — absent in prosecutions such as the present one in peacetime — permitting a conviction upon a different and less strict basis. That clause provides:

(a) Whoever, when the United States is at war, or in times of national emergency as declared by the President or by the Congress, with intent to injure, interfere with, or obstruct the United States or any associate nation in preparing for or carrying on the war or defense activities, or with reason to believe that his act may injure, interfere with, or obstruct the United States or any associate nation in preparing for or carrying on the war or defense activities willfully injures, destroys, contaminates or infects, or attempts to so injure, destroy, contaminate or infect any war material, war premises, or war utilities, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than thirty years, or both (emphasis added).

See United States v. Bishop, 555 F.2d 771 (10th Cir.1977); United States v. Achtenberg, supra. See also Gorin v. United States, 111 F.2d 712 (9th Cir.1940); United States v. Melville, 309 F.Supp. 774, 780 (S.D.N.Y.1970). See generally Annot., 24 A.L.R. Fed. 906 (1975).

Although we find the accused not guilty of sabotage, we find that he clearly violated Article 108, U.C.M.J., willful damage to government property. This is a lesser included offense of sabotage. United States v. Reyes, supra, at 782-783.

We find the accused guilty of this lesser included offense and dismiss the sabotage offenses. We believe that the defense argument that the sabotage and Article 108 offenses are multiplicious for charging purposes need not be addressed. The accused did not object at trial that one transaction had been made the basis for an unreasonable multiplication of charges. See para. 26b, M.C.M., 1969 (Rev.). Moreover, there may have been doubt in the minds of the trial participants as to whether Reyes — which holds willful damage under Article 108, U.C.M.J. to be a lesser included offense of sabotage — was still good law. In any event, we perceive no harm to the accused. See generally United States v. Baker, 14 M.J. 361, 365 (C.M.A.1983); United States v. Stegall, 6 M.J. 176, 177-178 (C.M.A.1979).

Furthermore, since the military judge indicated that the offenses would be considered multiplicious for sentencing, the sentence was unaffected by this matter. See generally United States v. Fortney, 12 M.J. 987, 989 (A.F.C.M.R.1982); United States v. Huggins, 12 M.J. 657 (A.C.M.R. 1981).

[679]*679II

The accused also claims that the evidence is insufficient to support a conviction of aggravated arson since he lacked the capacity to form the specific intent required, due to intoxication.

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