United States v. Morrison

22 M.J. 743
CourtU.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review
DecidedMay 30, 1986
DocketNMCM 85 2645
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 22 M.J. 743 (United States v. Morrison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Morrison, 22 M.J. 743 (usnmcmilrev 1986).

Opinion

RAPP, Judge:

At a general court-martial consisting of officer members, the appellant was convicted of conspiracy to sell military aviation fuel valued at $588,000, making false official statements with the intent to deceive, selling military aviation fuel valued at $588,000, and stealing 40,000 gallons of military aviation fuel valued at $40,000. He was sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, confinement for 10 years, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, a fine of $35,000 and reduction to pay grade E-l. Briefly, the evidence at trial showed that the appellant, as a senior supervisor at the Naval Air Station (NAS), Sigonella, Sicily, fuel farm, had responsibilities including cognizance over incoming fuel shipments by tank truck from civilian sources, transfer of this fuel to fuel farm tanks, and dispensing of this fuel to various military customer activities. A large-scale scheme developed in which the appellant or others under his control (both military and Italian civilian) would pretend to off-load arriving tank trucks but in fact would let these trucks depart the base with all or part of their cargo intact. The stolen fuel would then be delivered off-base to Italian users, who would pay the appellant and the other conspirators for their illicit services. Shortages were concealed by juggling the fuel farm accounts to show false deliveries and inventories and by exaggerating spillage and stripping. The appellant both di[745]*745rected and signed false records to cover up the scheme, which ran from October 1982 through May 1984 and involved as many as 25 co-conspirators. At trial the appellant admitted his participation but maintained that he was coerced into wrongdoing by threats of violence against himself and his family. Further facts will be set forth in our discussion of the assignments of error. Our review has encompassed the record of trial, the assignments of error, the Government’s reply thereto, and the Article 38(c), Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. § 838(c), brief and clemency petition submitted on the appellant’s behalf by the trial defense counsel.

I

THE COURT-MARTIAL LACKED JURISDICTION TO TRY APPELLANT.

In particular, the appellant asserts he was improperly extended beyond his expiration of active obligated service (EAOS), because he was held to face civilian, vice military charges. He relies upon two service record entries dated 15 June 1984. One states:

MBR BEING INVOLUNTARILY EXTENDED PAST CURRENT EAOS PENDING RESULTS OF INVESTIGATION OF CHARGES FILED BY CIVILIAN AUTHORITIES.

The other was signed by the appellant and states:

I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT I AM BEING INVOLUNTARILY EXTENDED BEYOND MY EAOS PENDING RESULTS OF INVESTIGATION OF CHARGES FILED BY CIVIL AUTHORITIES.

Also, the appellant offers the case of Taylor v. United States, 711 F.2d 1199 (3d Cir.1983), which held that the military did not have the authority to effect involuntary extensions of enlistments beyond EAOS/EAS for members facing foreign criminal charges. This issue was not litigated at trial but was raised for the first time on appeal.

We have concluded that neither the facts nor the law support the appellant’s contention. The evidence shows that the appellant’s commanding officer placed him in pretrial restriction on 17 May 1984 due to alleged violations of Articles 81, 107 and 121, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. §§ 881, 907, 921. Another conspiracy charge was added on 18 July 1985. Appellant’s EAOS was 19 July 1984, but he was not released then. Thus, the appellant was made aware of the charges and the intent of military authorities well before his EAOS by the charges governing his pretrial restriction and by the preferral of a further charge after the service record entries set forth above, so that he should have had no doubt that he was being extended to face military, as well as civilian, charges. In United States v. Douse, 12 M.J 473, 478 (C.M.A.1982), the Court of Military Appeals pointed out that the Government can preserve jurisdiction over an accused by taking an “action with a view to trial” before his EAOS. Such action must be “official” and of a nature that authoritatively signals the sovereign’s intent to impose its legal processes upon the individual. United States v. Smith, 4 M.J. 265 (C.M.A.1978). Any acts which authoritatively presage a court-martial, when viewed in the light of surrounding circumstances, are sufficient. United States v. Self, 13 M.J. 132 (C.M.A.1982). Placing an accused in a status of “administrative hold” before his EAOS has been adequate to preserve jurisdiction. See United States v. Wheeley, 6 M.J. 220 (C.M. A.1979). Thus, pretrial restriction based on specified charges, which is even more onerous on the individual, patently signals the sovereign’s intent to impose its legal processes on the appellant and authoritatively presages a court-martial. At oral argument civilian counsel for the appellant asserted that the appellant’s acknowledgement of involuntary extension in the 15 June service record entry constituted an objection to such extension. We have a difficult time equating acknowledgement with an objection, but, even if we construe the entry as an objection, the appellant was put on notice by the 18 July preferral of a [746]*746military charge against him that he was being extended to face military legal action and he thereafter made no objection which is evident in the record. Civilian counsel at oral argument also asserted that the 15 June service record entry demonstrated an election by the Government to preserve jurisdiction solely to face charges by civilian authorities. This theory, however, is contradicted by the preferral of a military charge on 18 July, before the appellant’s EAOS, and no legal authority has been cited for the proposition that the Government is precluded from proceeding on dual grounds for jurisdiction (i.e., amenability to trial by either military or civilian authorities). We therefore find that the imposition of pretrial restriction on 17 May 1984 and the preferral of a specific charge against the appellant on 18 July 1984 preserved jurisdiction over the appellant beyond his EAOS.

Even if we were to agree that the appellant’s acknowledgement service record entry constituted an objection to retention beyond his EAOS, we conclude that the Government proceeded within a reasonable time after the appellant complained of his involuntary retention. See United States v. Hutchins, 4 M.J. 190 (C.M.A.1978). “Necessarily, determination of what constitutes a reasonable period of time for accomplishment of a specified action requires a consideration of the totality of the relevant circumstances.” Douse, 12 M.J at 478. Trial did not commence until about six months after his EAOS, but that delay was justified by the circumstances. The case was exceedingly complicated, requiring extensive investigation by the Naval Investigative Service and the Naval Audit Service, who had to reconstruct accurate fuel records for an 18-month period. Thousands of gallons of fuel were involved, and military customers included squadrons permanently based in the United States but temporarily assigned to NAS Sigonella.

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United States v. Brunton
24 M.J. 566 (U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review, 1987)

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Bluebook (online)
22 M.J. 743, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-morrison-usnmcmilrev-1986.