United States v. McMurrin

69 M.J. 591, 2010 CCA LEXIS 335, 2010 WL 3637563
CourtNavy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedSeptember 21, 2010
DocketNMCCA 200900475
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 69 M.J. 591 (United States v. McMurrin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Navy-Marine Corps 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. McMurrin, 69 M.J. 591, 2010 CCA LEXIS 335, 2010 WL 3637563 (N.M. 2010).

Opinions

PRICE, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which MITCHELL, S.J., MAKSYM, S.J., CARBERRY, S.J., PERLAK, J., and BEAL, J., concur. BOOKER, S.J., filed an opinion concurring in the result. REISMEIER, C.J., and PAYTON-O’BRIEN, J., did not participate in the decision of this case.

PUBLISHED OPINION OF THE COURT

PRICE, Judge:

The appellant entered mixed pleas to offenses related to the death of another Sailor. A military judge sitting alone as a general court-martial convicted the appellant of conspiracy to possess cocaine, violating an order, use of cocaine, obstruction of justice, and negligent homicide, violations, respectively, of Articles 81, 92, 112a, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 881, 892, 912a, and 934.1 The convening authority [592]*592approved the adjudged sentence of confinement for 66 months, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction to pay grade E-l, and a dishonorable discharge from the United States Navy.

The appellant raises three assignments of error asserting that: (1) the finding of guilty for negligent homicide is legally and factually insufficient where the appellant’s acts or omissions did not amount to simple negligence; (2) even if his acts or omissions amounted to simple negligence, that negligence was not the proximate cause of Machinist’s Mate Fireman Recruit (MMFR) [S]’s death, and (3) that his conviction for negligent homicide as a lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter violates the requirements of due process and Article 79, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 879. This court specified two additional issues regarding variance between the alleged offense of violation of a lawful order, the military judge’s finding of guilty, and subsequently issued special findings that reflect findings of guilty for violation of a lawful general order.

Based on our review of the appellant’s third assigned error and the issues specified by this court, we set aside the guilty findings of negligent homicide and violating an order,2 dismiss Charges II and IV and the specifications thereunder, affirm the remaining findings of guilty, set aside the sentence, and authorize a rehearing as to the sentence.

Background

This case can rightly be described as tragic. The appellant and MMFR [S] were friends and schoolmates at an apprenticeship course at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois. The two shipmates went out on liberty in the local area on 19 July 2008, and less than 24 hours later MMFR [S] was dead of cocaine and heroin intoxication.

The appellant and MMFR [S], his then liberty buddy,3 left the Naval Station and headed toward a local mall. On the way, they met “Shorty,” a person who had eon-tacts with drag suppliers. Shorty provided them a quantity of cocaine, which the Sailors ingested. A short while later, they again contacted Shorty, who procured more cocaine and also, at MMFR [S]’s request, some heroin. After ingesting additional cocaine and the heroin, MMFR [S] immediately began to mumble incoherently and to nod off to sleep.

Though immediately concerned for MMFR [S]’s welfare, the appellant did not seek emergency medical assistance due to his concern that both Sailors drug use would be discovered. Instead, he asked Shorty to drive him and MMFR [S] to a hotel where other junior Sailors had gathered. Once at the hotel, the appellant and Shorty earned the incoherent MMFR [S] from the car and placed him in the grass near the parking lot.

The appellant then entered the hotel where the other Sailors were socializing, “had a beer or two,” and later returned to check on MMFR [S]. Though still breathing, MMFR [S] was unresponsive to the appellant’s efforts to rouse him through talking and slapping. Realizing MMFR [S] was “kind of in the open,” the appellant “pulled [him] behind a larger bush or some brush,” and returned to the party.

The appellant cheeked on MMFR [S] at least one more time before concluding that he was dead. The then panicked appellant returned to the party and later discarded MMFR [S]’s cell phone, military identification card, and debit card.

Several hours later, a passerby noticed MMFR [S]’s body in the grass and summoned emergency authorities. The medical examiner fixed the cause of death as heroin and cocaine intoxication. After MMFR [S]’s body was discovered, local police began an investigation, and the appellant’s actions during the course of the investigation led to the obstruction charges against him.

[593]*593I. Negligent Homicide as a Lesser Included Offense of Involuntary Manslaughter

The appellant asserts that negligent homicide does not satisfy the statutory elements test for lesser included offenses [hereinafter LIOs] as it includes a statutory element not present in the charged offense of involuntary manslaughter, and that he was not otherwise provided notice of the need to defend against that charge as required by the Due Process Clause of the Constitution.

The Government concedes that as a result of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) recent decision in United States v. Jones,4 and under the facts of this ease, negligent homicide no longer satisfies the Constitutional or statutory requirements for an LIO of involuntary manslaughter. However, the Government argues that the appellant was availed of his Constitutional right to notice to be prepared to defend against the charge of negligent homicide and requests that we affirm the findings of guilty.

A.Principles of Law

“The Constitution requires that an accused be on notice as to the offense that must be defended against, and that only lesser included offenses that meet these notice requirements may be affirmed by an appellate court.” United States v. Miller, 67 M.J. 385, 388 (C.A.A.F.2009)(citing Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 314, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979))(additional citations omitted). Consonant with these Constitutional principles, the Uniform Code of Military Justice provides that an accused “may be found guilty of an offense necessarily included in the offense eharged[.]” Article 79, UCMJ; see also Miller, 67 M.J. at 388. Where comparison of the elements of two distinct offenses reveals that one of those offenses is not a necessarily included offense of the other, “the requirement of notice to an accused may be met if the charge sheet ‘make[s] the accused aware of any alternative theory of guilt.’ ” Miller, 67 M.J. at 389, n. 6 (quoting United States v. Medina, 66 M.J. 21, 27 (C.A.A.F.2009)).

B. Questions Presented

The questions presented in this appeal are: (1) whether, following the CAAF decisions in Miller and Jones,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
69 M.J. 591, 2010 CCA LEXIS 335, 2010 WL 3637563, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mcmurrin-nmcca-2010.