United States v. Muniz

23 M.J. 201, 1987 CMA LEXIS 6
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedJanuary 12, 1987
DocketNo. 52,681; ACM 24666
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 23 M.J. 201 (United States v. Muniz) 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. Muniz, 23 M.J. 201, 1987 CMA LEXIS 6 (cma 1987).

Opinions

OPINION

COX, Judge:

Appellant was charged with signing a false official document (a leave request form); conduct unbecoming an officer by making a false statement to a noncommissioned officer (that he had to go on leave to Puerto Rico); and drunk driving, in violation of Articles 107, 133, and 111, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 907, 933, and 911, respectively. At trial, he [202]*202made an unsuccessful motion to suppress the fruits of a search of his office credenza and any information derivative thereof. The military judge denied the motion on the grounds that appellant “did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy ... [in] the credenza in his office; and that the evidence was not obtained as a result of unlawful search or seizure.”

Thereafter, appellant entered conditional pleas of guilty1 to the false-document and false-statement charges and unconditional pleas of guilty to the drunk-driving charge. A general court-martial comprised of members sentenced him to dismissal from the service. The convening authority approved the sentence.2 In its unpublished opinion, the Court of Military Review did not decide whether appellant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the credenza. Instead, the court affirmed on the ground that the intrusion was justified by an emergency. We granted review of the following issue raised by appellant:

WHETHER THE AIR FORCE COURT OF MILITARY REVIEW WAS WRONG IN HOLDING THAT A SEARCH OF THE APPELLANT’S LOCKED DRAWER OF A DESK IN WHICH HE HAD A REASONABLE EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY WAS PERMITTED UNDER MIL.R.EVID. 314(0.

Notwithstanding the above language, which begs the issue in assuming a reasonable expectation of privacy in the drawer, the questions now before the Court are whether appellant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of a government-owned credenza drawer and, if so, whether the intrusion into it was nonetheless justified. Under the circumstances of this case, I conclude that he did not have such an expectation — at least vis-a-vis his commander — and, in any event, we hold that exigent circumstances justified the intrusion. The following facts are essentially undisputed.

I

Appellant was second in command of the 96th Munitions Maintenance Squadron, Dyess AFB, Texas. During the last week of September and the first week of October, 1983, appellant’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel John M. Rhoads, was on leave. Appellant was in charge of the squadron. Appellant, though married and the father of a young daughter, had evidently established some sort of relationship with Captain S, a female Air Force officer, not appellant’s wife, who was stationed at Green-ham Common RAF Base, England. Apparently, appellant made the acquaintance of this officer in Aviano, Italy, where they both had been stationed previously.

In late September 1983, during Lieutenant Colonel Rhoads’ leave, appellant called Captain S and told her (falsely) that he had been granted leave and (accurately) that he would be coming to visit her for two weeks. Several days later, appellant told the unit first sergeant, Master Sergeant Thomas Little, that he had to go on leave to Puerto Rico because his uncle had died and he needed to care for his ailing mother (it was this statement that constituted the conduct-unbecoming charge). Indeed, it appears that appellant’s uncle had recently died, but taking care of his mother was not what was animating appellant. His only purpose in saying this to Master Sergeant Little was to set the stage for his clandestine trip to England. To be consistent with the sto[203]*203ry he told his wife, appellant also asked the first sergeant to tell her, should she inquire, that he was on a temporary duty assignment. The reason given for requesting this service was purportedly to not upset her because of his uncle’s death.

A few days later, but still before the commander returned, appellant filled out and signed a leave request indicating a leave address, without telephone number, in Puerto Rico (this action resulted in the false-official-document charge). Placing the document on the commander’s desk for his signature, appellant departed for England only hours before the commander returned. In accordance with appellant’s instructions, the first sergeant duly briefed the commander on the crisis; and the request was approved. But for an untimely ear infection, nobody might have been the wiser.

What appellant could not anticipate was that his infant daughter would develop an ear infection of such proportions as to require surgery. Confronted with this situation, Mrs. Muniz came in to see Lieutenant Colonel Rhoads to enlist his assistance in getting in touch with appellant. The exact degree of medical urgency is not documented in the record, and it does not appear that Rhoads was so informed. Nonetheless, the impression was unmistakably conveyed to Rhoads that the situation was serious and that it was urgent that Mrs. Muniz consult with appellant before giving her consent to the operation. As can be imagined, Rhoads and Little sprang into action.

Through Red Cross and security police channels, all efforts were employed to contact appellant at his supposed leave address in Puerto Rico. When it was discovered that the address appellant left was insufficient, they sent for appellant’s file from the personnel office and got a better address. Of course, the efforts to contact him in Puerto Rico were to no avail, as he was in England. It is certain that appellant’s relatives in Puerto Rico were actually contacted because Mrs. Muniz received at least one phone call from a relative in Puerto Rico asking why the security police were coming around looking for appellant. Having no idea at the time that her husband was supposedly in Puerto Rico, Mrs. Muniz became quite upset and called Lieutenant Colonel Rhoads about it. Again she impressed on him the urgency of contacting appellant.

Confronted with this turn of events, Rhoads and Little began to realize that appellant was not where he said he would be. Still motivated by the overriding need to put him in contact with his wife about his daughter, however, they began to play long shots. They both knew appellant had only recently arrived at the unit from his previous assignment in Italy. Master Sergeant Little also recalled that appellant had been receiving letters at the unit, through distribution, with an APO return number. Thinking that there might be a connection between his unexplained absence and the letters — or perhaps because they simply had nothing better to go on — the two “sleuths” decided to look in his office for the letters, on the chance that they might provide a clue. Not having any luck on the surfaces or in the unlocked drawers, they “jimmied” the lock on a drawer of appellant’s credenza.

In the drawer, they found a stack of letters bearing an APO return address. According to their testimony, they merely copied the APO number, along with a “PSE box,” leaving the letters in the drawer. Both Rhoads and Little insisted that they did not open the letters or even remove them from the drawer.

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Bluebook (online)
23 M.J. 201, 1987 CMA LEXIS 6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-muniz-cma-1987.