United States v. McGrath

39 M.J. 158, 1994 CMA LEXIS 15, 1994 WL 168440
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedMay 6, 1994
DocketNo. 68,260; CMR No. 28358
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 39 M.J. 158 (United States v. McGrath) 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. McGrath, 39 M.J. 158, 1994 CMA LEXIS 15, 1994 WL 168440 (cma 1994).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court

COX, Judge:

At his trial, appellant, through various legal maneuvers, attempted to block the victim from testifying at the court-martial. Failing that, when offered the opportunity to cross-examine her, he declined. On this appeal, he now argues he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to be confronted by the victim at trial. As a result of this alleged denial, he contends that two of the victim’s out-of-court statements should have been ruled inadmissible.1 The exclusion of those statements, in turn, would leave his own pretrial confession “uncorroborated” — and thus inadmissible under Mil.R.Evid. 304(g).2 We dispute that the [159]*159Confrontation Clause is so malleable; and we affirm appellant’s conviction.

I

Appellant stands convicted of multiple sexual offenses perpetrated on his natural daughter, A, who was between the ages of 13 and 14 at the time of the offenses.3 Essentially, the victim made two sworn statements in June 1989 detailing appellant’s misconduct, which allegedly occurred in the Federal Republic of Germany over the preceding year- and-a-half. When confronted by the authorities, appellant made a six-page, handwritten confession. There is no issue before us regarding the voluntariness of this confession.

Appellant was tried by a military judge sitting alone as a general court-martial at Hahn Air Base, Federal Republic of Germany. The court-martial opened on November 15, 1989, with the defense moving to suppress appellant’s confession. Counsel’s basis for the motion was:

“We do not believe it can be properly corroborated.”

The Government’s response was that the confession was corroborated by the victim’s pretrial statements. The Government’s first witness was the victim, A.

She identified herself and stated: that she was appellant’s 14-year-old daughter; that, until June 1989, she had been living with appellant “in the same household” in the Federal Republic of Germany; that, commencing in June 1989, she lived in a foster home for several months [in Germany]; and that recently she had moved back into the family home with her stepmother (appellant’s wife), her two stepbrothers, and her stepsister. Appellant “was basically living in a dormitory” when she returned to the home.

When asked by the prosecutor if she had made “statements against” appellant in June 1989, she “refuse[d] to answer” the question. When asked if she “wish[ed] to retract” anything from the statements, she “refuse[d] to answer.”

She acknowledged that she had “receive[d] an order from the German court” to appear at the court-martial and that was “the reason” she was present. She stated that she had “indicated” to the military prosecutor the day before the court-martial that she “had no intention of testifying against ... [her] father.” She said that her reason for not wishing to testify was to avoid “the potential harm it could do to ... [her] father” and that she “didn’t want to hurt ... [her] family any more.”

She also acknowledged, however, that she had taken “an oath back in June of this year”; that she had “promise[d] to tell the truth back then”; and that she had not lied under that June oath.

[160]*160At this juncture in the proceedings, trial counsel requested the military judge to “make inquiry of the witness and, if necessary, give an order to the witness to testify in this case.” The defense promptly requested a session under Article 39(a), Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC § 839(a), “for purposes of judicial notice of German law and to discuss other matters.... ”

The discussion during the Article 39(a) session centered on the victim’s apparent privilege under German law not to testify against her father, an issue previously identified and discussed at a pretrial conference. See RCM 802, Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1984. The prosecution conceded that, under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) Status of Forces Agreement and the pertinent implementing regulations, German law applied to the victim and that, under German law, she had such a privilege. In addition, the prosecution acknowledged that, pursuant to the treaty, the prosecution had been obliged to request the German courts to subpoena the victim to attend the court-martial. The prosecution disputed, however, the contention that the German privilege applied at the court-martial. The prosecution conceded, nevertheless, that neither the military judge nor the German courts had the authority to order the victim to testify should she decline.

The defense acknowledged that the witness is aware, was aware yesterday, that this was a provision of the German law, based upon her being told that, or having it confirmed by a German social worker....

In addition, defense counsel argued that

since her presence here is premised solely upon the German subpoena, which is the only power that can make her appear here, that she needs to be instructed under the German law of her rights and see if that is what she is essentially, in her inexperienced, perhaps unsophisticated way, is attempting to convey to this court. If so, Your Honor, we would submit that a motion to strike any testimony she gave without having been advised would be something the defense would raise, but we submit that there is no power that this court has to order her to testify under American law and, as we know, under German law here today.

Such an order to testify would have been, in the defense’s view, “an improper order ... because it cannot be enforced.”

The military judge announced his decision “to talk with her and encourage her ... to voluntarily talk,” reserving the possibility of “issuing] her an order, realizing I may not be able to compel or to punish her for violation of that order.” The defense promptly objected, arguing:

Your Honor, the defense concurs that the goal of justice is to have her voluntarily testify, with the emphasis on the word “voluntarily,” and we would submit, with all due respect, that if you, sitting up there with your judicial robes in the position of authority over her, give her an order, knowing that you cannot do anything about a refusal, but implying to her that you can, you have taken away, to a certain degree, one which we may not be able to measure, her voluntary choice to testify, under fear of a threat which is no threat. We do not submit that that is voluntary testimony and we would register our objection to that procedure.

When the prosecutor complained that the Government was trying to afford appellant confrontation but that it was the defense that was trying to prevent it, defense counsel countered that the defense did not “write” the rules, but

[w]e are doing everything in our power that is enabled us and allowed us under the law. What we are saying about this witness is, she appears to be the type of person who can be pressured,- and we are concerned that inadvertently, or perhaps advertently, the military judge will pressure her into providing testimony which is suspect by the very nature of the pressure.

The witness was then recalled, and the military judge questioned her. He encouraged her to testify, but he did not order her to testify. Indeed, he informed her that he had no power to order her to testify or to punish her for refusing to testify.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 M.J. 158, 1994 CMA LEXIS 15, 1994 WL 168440, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mcgrath-cma-1994.