United States v. Lockwood

15 M.J. 1, 1983 CMA LEXIS 23041
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedFebruary 14, 1983
DocketNo. 41799; ACM S25149
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 15 M.J. 1 (United States v. Lockwood) 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. Lockwood, 15 M.J. 1, 1983 CMA LEXIS 23041 (cma 1983).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court

EVERETT, Chief Judge:

Appellant was tried by special court-martial at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, on charges alleging that he had disobeyed an order, committed two larcenies, and forged a promissory note, in violation of Articles 92, 121, and 123 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 892, 921, and 923, respectively. Pursuant to a pretrial agreement, he pleaded guilty to all charges and specifications and, after the court had entered findings of guilty, was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge and confinement at hard labor for 6 months. The convening authority approved the findings and sentence but directed that appellant be confined at the 3320th Retraining Group (CRS), Lowry Air Force Base, Colorado.

The Court of Military Review considered appellant’s contention that the court-martial lacked jurisdiction to try the forgery and one of the larcenies, since these offenses had been committed off-base. For varying reasons and in separate opinions, each of the three judges of the court below concluded that the off-base offenses were within the court-martial’s jurisdiction. ' 11 M.J. 818 (1981). Having granted appellant’s petition for review of this conclusion, 12 M.J. 187 (1981), we now rule against him.

I

As reflected in a stipulation of fact and in Lockwood’s answers during the providence inquiry, he was stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. There he and his [3]*3roommate had found the wallet of another airman, Charles M. Sage, Jr. The wallet contained a military identification card (DD Form 2AF), a driver’s license, a social security card, and other forms of identification, all issued in Sage’s name. On July 5,1980, Lockwood stole the wallet and its contents from his roommate and this taking was the subject of a larceny specification. No attack has been made on the jurisdiction over that offense, which was committed on base.

On July 11, 1980, appellant took the wallet and identification documents off-base to nearby Wichita Falls, Texas. There, by pretending to be Charles M. Sage, he fraudulently obtained a loan of $100 from the Murphy Acceptance Corporation. His receipt of these funds gave rise to a second larceny specification. To evidence the $100 loan appellant executed a promissory note to Murphy Acceptance Corporation in the name of Charles M. Sage and forged Sage’s signature. From this act arose the forgery charge.

II

At one time it was widely assumed that, simply by reason of his military status, a servicemember could be subjected to trial by court-martial for whatever offenses Congress might designate. Kinsella v. United States ex rel. Singleton, 361 U.S. 234, 80 S.Ct. 297, 4 L.Ed.2d 268 (1960), appeared to be consistent with this belief, for there the Supreme Court remarked that “[t]he test for jurisdiction, it follows, is one of status, namely, whether the accused in the court-martial proceeding is a person who can be regarded as falling within the term ‘land and naval Forces,’ ” id. at 240-41, 80 S.Ct. at 300-01; in that case there was no suggestion by the Court that military jurisdiction might be limited by reason of the type of offense involved. See Gosa v. Mayden, 413 U.S. 665, 673, 93 S.Ct. 2926, 2932, 37 L.Ed.2d 873 (1973); Grafton v. United States, 206 U.S. 333, 348, 27 S.Ct. 749, 752, 51 L.Ed. 1084 (1907).

However, in 1969, the Court announced an additional requirement for jurisdiction— that the offense be “service connected.” O'Callahan v. Parker, 395 U.S. 258, 272, 89 S.Ct. 1683, 1690, 23 L.Ed.2d 291. There, a majority of the Justices concluded that, at least in peacetime and within the United States and its territories, trial by court-martial can be authorized only for offenses that are “service connected.” In construing the power of Congress “[t]o make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces,” U.S. Const, art. I, § 8, cl. 14, the Court referred to its earlier comment that “military tribunals [must be restricted] to the narrowest jurisdiction deemed absolutely essential to maintaining discipline among troops in active service,” 395 U.S. at 265, 89 S.Ct. at 1687, quoting United States ex rel. Toth v. Quarles, 350 U.S. 11, 22, 76 S.Ct. 1, 8, 100 L.Ed. 8 (1955); and it employed the test of “the least possible power adequate to the end proposed.” 395 U.S. at 265, 89 S.Ct. at 1687, quoting Toth v. Quarles, supra at 23, 76 S.Ct. at 8, which quoted Anderson v. Dunn, 6 Wheat (19 U.S.) 204, 231, 5 L.Ed. 242 (1821). Writing for the majority, Justice Douglas painted a dismal picture of military justice in order to help justify the restriction being imposed on military jurisdiction.1

In Relford v. Commandant, 401 U.S. 355, 91 S.Ct. 649, 28 L.Ed.2d 102 (1971), the Supreme Court considered whether a general court-martial had jurisdiction over offenses of kidnapping and rape which had occurred on a military reservation in New Jersey.2 Justice Blackmun’s opinion for a unanimous court discussed Relford’s crimes in light of twelve factors which had been emphasized in O’Callahan. Having noted that some of these same factors were present and others absent in the case then at bar, the Court observed:

[4]*4There are still other significant aspects of the Relford offenses: The first victim was the sister of a serviceman who was then properly at the base. The second victim was the wife of a serviceman stationed at the base; she and her husband had quarters on the base and were living there. Tangible property properly on the base, that is, two automobiles, were forcefully and unlawfully entered.

Id. at 366-67, 91 S.Ct. at 655-56. The reference at this point to these “other significant aspects” makes clear that the twelve “factors upon which the Court relied for its result in O’Callahan,” id. at 365, 91 S.Ct. at 655, were not intended to be exhaustive. Indeed, in Relford the Court stressed nine other considerations which relate to military jurisdiction.

In Gosa v. Mayden, supra, the Court ruled that court-martial convictions for crimes that had not been service connected would nonetheless be valid if they preceded O'Caliaban. Thus, although in one sense subject-matter jurisdiction had been lacking, the court-martial conviction was not treated as a nullity.3

In Schlesinger v. Councilman, 420 U.S. 738, 95 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
15 M.J. 1, 1983 CMA LEXIS 23041, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lockwood-cma-1983.