United States v. Lee

CourtUnited States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedMarch 14, 2017
DocketACM 38888
StatusUnpublished

This text of United States v. Lee (United States v. Lee) 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. Lee, (afcca 2017).

Opinion

U NITED S TATES AIR F ORCE C OURT OF C RIMINAL APPEALS ________________________

No. ACM 38888 ________________________

UNITED STATES Appellee v. Collin M. LEE Airman First Class (E-3), U.S. Air Force, Appellant ________________________

Appeal from the United States Air Force Trial Judiciary Decided 14 March 2017 ________________________

Military Judge: Christopher F. Leavey (sitting alone). Approved sentence: Dishonorable discharge, confinement for 7 years, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and reduction to E-1. Sentence ad- judged 9 July 2015 by GCM convened at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. For Appellant: Major Michael A. Schrama, USAF; Captain Patrick A. Clary, USAF; James P. Fleisher, Esquire. For Appellee: Major Meredith L. Steer, USAF; Major Mary Ellen Payne, USAF; Gerald R. Bruce, Esquire. Before DUBRISKE, SANTORO, and HARDING, Appellate Military Judges. Judge SANTORO delivered the opinion of the court, in which Senior Judge DUBRISKE and Judge HARDING joined. ________________________

This is an unpublished opinion and, as such, does not serve as precedent under AFCCA Rule of Practice and Procedure 18.4. ________________________ United States v. Lee, No. ACM 38888

SANTORO, Judge: A military judge sitting as a general court-martial convicted Appellant, con- trary to his pleas, of one specification of aggravated sexual assault, one speci- fication of making a visual recording of the private area of another, and one specification of distributing that video, in violation of Articles 120 and 120c, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. §§ 920, 920c. The ad- judged sentence was a dishonorable discharge, confinement for seven years, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and reduction to E-1. The convening au- thority approved the sentence as adjudged. Appellant raises four assignments of error: (1) the military judge erred in denying Appellant’s motion to suppress a statement he made to investigators, (2) the military judge erroneously admitted a video recording, (3) Appellant’s convictions for making and distributing the video recording are legally and fac- tually insufficient, and (4) Appellant’s sentence is inappropriately severe. We disagree and affirm.

I. BACKGROUND Appellant attended a party at a civilian’s residence. Many of the approxi- mately 50 guests knew each other, having grown up in the same rural area. Among the attendees was BS, a civilian with whom Appellant had been ac- quainted for about a year. Appellant and BS had no prior romantic or dating relationship. During the evening, BS and IF (another party guest) left the party together and walked to an area about 50 feet away from the house where several guests had parked their cars. BS and IF engaged in sexual intercourse in the back seat of a car belonging to BM, BS’s friend. The liaison ended when IF received a telephone call from his brother telling him he was coming to pick him up and drive him home before curfew. It was not clear how much alcohol BS had consumed, but it was undisputed that BS remained nude in BM’s vehicle, either incoherent or unconscious, after IF departed. Several partygoers, including Appellant, saw BS in that state. Unlike the other partygoers, however, Appellant made a recording of BS with his cellular telephone. The recording depicted BS on her back in the back seat with her feet hanging outside the vehicle. Toward the end of the recording, Appellant separated BS’s legs with his hand and recorded her genitalia. While filming BS, Appellant said, “wake the f**k up. You are naked.” He also said, “You are naked. Can I f**k you now? Yeah? Is that a yes? No? Yes? No? . . . Open up your legs.” Appellant then engaged in non-consensual sexual inter- course with her. The next day, Appellant sent the recording to a mutual ac- quaintance, MT.

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II. DISCUSSION A. Motion to Suppress After Appellant assaulted BS, he returned to the party, told other guests that he had just had sex with BS, and hinted that another male, ML, should “complete the trio” of having sex with her. The next morning, BS learned from friends that Appellant was claiming he had sex with her. BS went to a local hospital, submitted to a sexual assault examination, and reported the incident to civilian law enforcement. Detective JN called Appellant and asked if he would be willing to come to the police station for an interview. Appellant agreed. When he arrived, Detec- tive JN told Appellant he was not under arrest and was free to leave but was a subject of the investigation. Detective JN and Deputy Sheriff RM then inter- viewed Appellant. Detective JN provided written Miranda 1 warnings, which Appellant acknowledged and waived. During the interview Appellant admitted making a video of BS and engaging in sexual intercourse with her. Appellant argues that the military judge erred when he denied his motion to suppress those statements. We review a military judge’s denial of a motion to suppress for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Chatfield, 67 M.J. 432, 437 (C.A.A.F. 2009) (citing United States v. Pipkin, 58 M.J. 358, 360 (C.A.A.F. 2003)). Under this standard, we uphold the military judge’s findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous or unsupported by the record. United States v. Leedy, 65 M.J. 208, 213 (C.A.A.F. 2007). We review de novo any conclusions of law. Chatfield, 67 M.J. at 437. “A military judge abuses his discretion when (1) the findings of fact upon which he predicates his ruling are not supported by the evidence of record; (2) . . . incorrect legal principles were used; or (3) . . . his application of the correct legal principles to the facts is clearly un- reasonable.” United States v. Ellis, 68 M.J. 341, 344 (C.A.A.F. 2010) (citing United States v. Mackie, 66 M.J. 198, 199 (C.A.A.F. 2008)). The crux of Appellant’s argument is that the Prosecution failed to establish that he knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waived his Miranda rights. 2 Fatal to this position, however, is the military judge’s finding that the inter- view was non-custodial, as Miranda does not apply to non-custodial interroga- tions. Oregon v. Mathiason, 429 U.S. 492, 494 (1977). Only after the Govern- ment’s brief noted that the military judge found the interview non-custodial

1 Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). 2There is no evidence to suggest, nor does Appellant argue, that civilian law enforce- ment was acting on behalf of the military. Therefore Article 31, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 831, and military jurisprudence interpreting Article 31 are inapplicable to this case. See United States v. Quillen, 27 M.J. 312 (C.M.A. 1988).

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did Appellant challenge that conclusion and in doing so, claimed that the mil- itary judge failed to analyze the relevant facts and law regarding when an in- terview is “custodial” for Miranda purposes. The record does not support that contention. In his ruling, the military judge correctly noted both Miranda’s require- ments and its inapplicability to non-custodial interviews. He further noted, cit- ing Howes v. Fields, that when determining whether an interview is custodial, courts must determine “whether, in light of ‘the objective circumstances of the interrogation,’ a ‘reasonable person [would] have felt he or she was not at lib- erty to terminate the interrogation and leave.’” 565 U.S. 499, 509 (2012) (alter- ation in original) (citations omitted).

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