United States v. Langer

41 M.J. 780, 1995 CCA LEXIS 48, 1995 WL 57329
CourtUnited States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedJanuary 27, 1995
DocketACM 30533
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 41 M.J. 780 (United States v. Langer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Air Force Court of Criminal 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. Langer, 41 M.J. 780, 1995 CCA LEXIS 48, 1995 WL 57329 (afcca 1995).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

BECKER, Judge:

Appellant contends the military judge erred in denying two motions to dismiss, one based on an interrogation which violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel and the other alleging denial of speedy trial. Appellant also argues his conviction should be reversed because the court members improperly shifted the burden of proof to him, his trial defense counsel were ineffective, and the evidence was insufficient to prove his guilt. We find no error and affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Members convicted the appellant, contrary to his pleas, of one specification of using cocaine in violation of Article 112a, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C.A. § 912.1 He was sentenced to a dismissal and confinement for two months. The prosecution was based on the results of an inspection urinalysis.2 Appellant testified in his own defense and denied using the drug. The defense conceded the accuracy of the urine test, and relied on the defense of unknowing ingestion.

Appellant and other Air Force members played off-duty with a popular Cheyenne, Wyoming, club band called “Mr. Coffee and Grounds for Divorce.” A musician acquaintance of the appellant, a Mr. B, testified that he saw a woman, known to him only as “Judy,” pour a white powder into a cocktail on the night of 4-5 July 1992, while the two were watching “Mr. Coffee et al” perform. According to Mr. B, this drink and several others ended up on a table near the stage. Mr. B testified he then saw the appellant drink from one of these glasses.

On 7 July 1992, the appellant was notified of his random selection for urinalysis and provided his sample. In August, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFO-SI) at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, learned the appellant’s urine sample had tested positively for cocaine metabolites. AFOSI called the appellant in for an interview. After waiving his Article 31, UCMJ,3 rights and rights to counsel, the appellant denied all unlawful drug use. He then ended the interview by requesting an attorney. Appellant’s squadron commander preferred the Charge and specification on 22 September 1992.

II. SIXTH AMENDMENT VIOLATION

In late September and October 1992 — after preferral of charges — Ms. G-P approached the appellant about joining his band as a bass player. Although she was indeed a musician, Ms. G-P was actually acting for the F.E. Warren AFOSI, who had recruited her as a drug informant and targeted her against the military members of “Mr. Coffee.” According to Ms. G-P, the appellant made remarks which, taken in context, arguably were admissions of illegal drug involvement.4

At trial, the defense moved to suppress Ms. G-P’s testimony as a violation of the appellant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The defense also moved to dismiss the Charge and specification because of this “outrageous” government misconduct. In testimony on the motion, Ms. G-P said that AFOSI had instructed her not to talk to the appellant or anyone else about drugs, even if they brought the subject up, and only to report what she saw and heard. This testimony differed somewhat from that of the AFOSI agents, who testified they instructed Ms. G-P, as part of a standard entrapment avoidance briefing, not to initiate conversations about drugs. The agents also insisted they knew nothing about the preferral of [783]*783charges against the appellant on 22 September 1992.

The military judge found Ms. G-P’s actions amounted to an unlawful interrogation of the appellant in absence of counsel, violating the Sixth Amendment. He suppressed the use of Ms. G-P’s testimony in the prosecution’s case-in-chief. However, he ruled the prosecution would be allowed to use Ms. G-P’s testimony to impeach testimony by the appellant. He also denied the motion to dismiss, concluding the AFOSI’s actions did not rise to an “outrageous” level justifying that drastic remedy. Appellant subsequently testified in his defense and vigorously denied the alleged cocaine use. The prosecution did not attempt to call Ms. G-P as a rebuttal witness. Appellant now claims the military judge erred in not dismissing the Charge and specification or suppressing Ms. G-P’s testimony for all purposes. He argues the military judge’s rulings improperly infringed on his ability to testify in his defense.

We agree with the appellant and the military judge that a Sixth Amendment violation occurred. Once formal criminal proceedings begin, police may not deliberately elicit statements from an accused without an express waiver of the right to counsel. Brewer v. Williams, 430 U.S. 387, 97 S.Ct. 1232, 51 L.Ed.2d 424 (1977); Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201, 84 S.Ct. 1199, 12 L.Ed.2d 246 (1964); Mil.R.Evid. 305(d)(1)(B). This is true whether the questioning is in a custodial setting and done by persons known by the accused to be police (Williams), or surreptitiously by an undercover agent (Maine v. Moulton, 474 U.S. 159, 106 S.Ct. 477, 88 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985); Massiah). Looking at Ms. G-P’s testimony alone, it appears the AFOSI may have been preparing her as merely a passive “listening post.” If so, her mere presence while the appellant made incriminating statements arguably may not have violated his Sixth Amendment rights. See Kuhlmann v. Wilson, 477 U.S. 436, 106 S.Ct. 2616, 91 L.Ed.2d 364 (1986). However, the testimony of the AFOSI agents undermines this theory. If they were ignorant of the preferral and only briefed Ms. GP not to initiate conversations about drugs, we can hardly credit AFOSI with an attempt to fit Ms. G-P’s activities into the Sixth Amendment. Moreover, Ms. G-P initiated contact and conversations with, the appellant, on two separate occasions, for the express purpose of gathering information about illegal drug activities. We find this deliberate ingratiation to be inconsistent with a passive “listening post.” Compare Kuhlmann (defendant’s cellmate instructed only to listen and report incriminating statements). We agree with the military judge that the prosecution failed to prove the appellant’s statements to Ms. G-P were not obtained in violation of the Sixth Amendment, and he properly suppressed Ms. G-P’s testimony in the prosecution’s case-in-chief. See MiLR.Evid. 304(e).

However, the military judge correctly permitted the prosecution to call Ms. G-P in rebuttal, if her testimony became relevant to impeach any testimony by the appellant. Mil.R.Evid. 304(b)(1) allows the use of an accused’s statement to contradict his in-court testimony, even if the statement would otherwise be inadmissible because of violation of counsel requirements. This rule is consistent with the Supreme Court’s Sixth Amendment opinions. In particular, we consider Michigan v. Harvey, 494 U.S. 344, 110 S.Ct. 1176, 108 L.Ed.2d 293 (1990), to be controlling. In that ease, the Supreme Court extended its Fifth Amendment precedent, which allows the impeachment use of statements taken in violation of the prophylactic rules protecting a defendant’s right against self-incrimination,5 to the Sixth Amendment area. In

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
41 M.J. 780, 1995 CCA LEXIS 48, 1995 WL 57329, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-langer-afcca-1995.