United States v. Molina

68 M.J. 532, 2009 CCA LEXIS 321, 2009 WL 2923755
U S Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals·Decided September 9, 2009·No. CGCMS 24387·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

McGUIRE, Judge:

Appellant was tried by special court-martial, military judge alone. Pursuant to his pleas of guilty, entered in accordance with a pretrial agreement, Appellant was convicted of one specification of wrongfully engaging in sexually intimate behavior aboard a Coast Guard vessel, in violation of Article 92, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. § 892; two specifications of maltreating a person subject to his orders by making offensive comments or gestures of a sexual nature, in violation of Article 93, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 893; one specification of assault consummated by a battery, in violation of Article 128, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 928, and one specification each of indecent exposure, wrongfully providing alcoholic beverages to a person under twenty-one years of age, and adultery, all in violation of Article 134, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 934. The military judge sentenced Appellant to confinement for 200 days, reduction to E-l, and a bad-conduct discharge. The Convening Authority approved the sentence as adjudged. The pretrial agreement did not affect the sentence.

Before this Court, Appellant has assigned the following four errors:

I.Appellant was denied effective counsel when his attorney erroneously informed him that he would not need to register as a sex offender.
II.The bad-conduct discharge is an inappropriately severe sentence.
III. Defense counsel’s failure to submit evidence regarding SA O’s character resulted in ineffective assistance of counsel.
IV. Appellant’s plea was involuntary, due to a failure by the Convening Authority to adhere to a material term of the pretrial agreement.

We grant relief on Assignment of Error IV (AOE IV) by setting aside the findings of guilty to Charge IV and its specification, indecent exposure.

Failure of material term of pretrial agreement

We begin with AOE IV, where Appellant asserts that his plea was involuntary due to a failure by the Convening Authority to adhere to a material term of the pretrial agreement. Appellant asserts that' his decision to plead guilty to the charges of which he was ultimately convicted was based on assurances that he would not have to register as a sex offender. The Government agrees in its Answer and Brief to Appellant’s AOE IV. (Government’s Ans. at 2.) During pretrial negotiations, trial counsel and defense counsel examined Secretary of the Navy Instruction 5800.14A, which lists UCMJ offenses that trigger requirements to contact state and local government officials regarding sex offender registration requirements. (Government’s Ans. at 3.) Upon initial review, Charge V, indecent assault, appeared to be the only charged offense that would trigger any registration requirement. During pretrial negotiations, the Government agreed to reduce Charge V to the lesser included offense of assault consummated by a battery in violation of Article 128, UCMJ, in exchange for Appellant’s pleas of guilty to the remaining charges. (Id.) Trial counsel and defense counsel also researched California law, the state that Appellant intended to reside in, but did not learn, until after trial, that California has a bifurcated reporting regime, and that Charge IV, indecent exposure, also required registration, albeit not on a public list. (Id. at 3-4.)

The interpretation of a pretrial agreement is a question of law, which is reviewed under a de novo standard. United States v. Acevedo, 50 M.J. 169, 172 (C.A.A.F.1999). Whether the government has complied with the material terms and conditions of an agreement presents a mixed question of law and fact. United States v. Lundy, 63 M.J. 299, 301 (C.A.A.F.2006) (citing Hometown Financial, Inc. v. United States, 409 F.3d 1360, 1369 (Fed.Cir.2005) and Gilbert v. Dep’t of Justice, 334 F.3d 1065, 1071 (Fed.Cir.2003)). An appellant bears the burden of establishing that there is a significant basis in law or fact to overturn a guilty plea. United States v. Prater, 32 M.J. 433, 436 (C.M.A.1991); [534]*534United States v. Jordan, 57 M.J. 236, 238 (C.A.A.F.2002). Thus, “Appellant bears the burden of establishing that a term or condition of the agreement was material to his decision to plead guilty, that the Government failed to comply with that term or condition, and therefore, that his plea was improvident.” Lundy, 63 M.J. at 302.

In the case sub judice, the term or condition at issue does not appear in the pretrial agreement itself. (Government’s Ans. at 3.) Nonetheless, “In the context of pretrial agreements involving the constitutional rights of a military accused, we look not only to the terms of the agreement, or contract, but to the accused’s understanding of the terms of an agreement as reflected in the record as a whole.” Lundy, 63 M.J. at 301. Appellant has provided a post-trial affidavit describing, among other things, the importance to Appellant of assurances by defense counsel that he would not have to register as a sex offender, in his decision to plead guilty. Specifically, Appellant asserts, “If I had known that I might have to register as a sex offender, I would not have signed the PTA, and would not have pleaded not guilty [sic].1” (Appellant’s Br., Appendix A at 2.) Further, the Government has provided an affidavit by trial counsel, indicating that the potential for Appellant to register as a sex offender was a subject of negotiations between the parties. (Government’s Ans.) Moreover, the Government agreed to accept a modified plea to Charge V and its sole specification, to the lesser included offense of assault consummated by a battery, in violation of Article 128, UCMJ, rather than indecent assault under Article 134. (R. at 12, 117, 139.) This agreement on the modified plea to Charge V, in our view, represents the efforts of the parties to meet Appellant’s concern to avoid any requirement to register as a sex offender, underscoring, for this Court, the fundamental validity of the assertions in the post-trial affidavits. The Government has conceded:2 “The Appellant made it clear during the pre-trial negotiations that he was concerned about pleading guilty to any offense constituting a sex offense.” (Government’s Ans. at 3.) Further, the Government has conceded: “As a result, sex offender registration was a subject of the pre-trial negotiations.” (Id.)

We review these post-trial affidavits under the framework outlined in U.S. v. Ginn, 47 M.J. 236 (C.A.A.F.1997). Here, we find that Appellant’s affidavit is factually adequate on its face to state a claim of legal error, and that the Government does not contest the relevant facts and also offers an affidavit that expressly agrees with some of the relevant facts (i.e., that avoidance of the Appellant having to register as a sex offender was a subject of negotiations between the parties).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

United States v. Molina, 68 M.J. 532, 2009 CCA LEXIS 321, 2009 WL 2923755 (uscgcoca 2009).

68 M.J. 532 (United States v. Molina) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

United States v. COLLETTI
Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals, 2024
United States v. Shafran en Banc ( __m.J.___ )
U S Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals, 2024
United States v. Shafran (__ M.J. __).Pdf
U S Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals, 2023
United States v. Hamilton
U S Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals, 2017
United States v. Harpole
U S Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals, 2016
United States v. Riesbeck
U S Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals, 2014