United States v. Nerad

69 M.J. 138, 2010 CAAF LEXIS 843, 2010 WL 2946879
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Armed Forces
DecidedJuly 27, 2010
Docket09-5006/AF
StatusPublished
Cited by514 cases

This text of 69 M.J. 138 (United States v. Nerad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Nerad, 69 M.J. 138, 2010 CAAF LEXIS 843, 2010 WL 2946879 (Ark. 2010).

Opinions

[140]*140Judge RYAN

delivered the opinion of the Court.

In accordance with his pleas, a general court-martial, composed of a military judge sitting alone, found Appellee guilty of failure to obey a lawful order, wrongful disposition of military property, larceny, sodomy, possession of child pornography, and adultery, violations of Articles 92, 108, 121, 125, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. §§ 892, 908, 921, 925, 934 (2006). The military judge sentenced Appel-lee to a dishonorable discharge, confinement for twelve months, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, a reprimand, and a reduction to the grade of E-l. The convening authority approved the findings and sentence.

The United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) reviewed the case pursuant to Article 66(e), UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 866(c) (2006). United States v. Nerad, 67 M.J. 748, 749 (A.F.Ct.Crim.App.2009). Despite concluding that there was no legal or factual error in the case, it nonetheless set aside and dismissed the finding of guilty to the child pornography offense based on the “unique circumstances” of the ease. Id. at 752-53; see infra Part I. The court approved the remaining findings and approved the sentence as adjudged. 67 M.J. at 753.

The Judge Advocate General of the Air Force certified the ease to this Court for review of the following issue:

WHETHER THE AIR FORCE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS ERRED IN NULLIFYING APPELLEE’S FACTUALLY AND LEGALLY SUFFICIENT CONVICTION FOR POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.

We hold that while CCAs have broad authority under Article 66(c), UCMJ, to disapprove a finding, that authority is not unfettered. It must be exercised in the context of legal— not equitable — standards, subject to appellate review. United States v. Quiroz, 55 M.J. 334, 339 (C.A.A.F.2001). Relatedly, while Article 66(c), UCMJ, affords a CCA broad powers, when faced with a constitutional statute a CCA “cannot, for example, override Congress’ policy decision, articulated in a statute, as to what behavior should be prohibited.” United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Coop., 532 U.S. 483, 497, 121 S.Ct. 1711, 149 L.Ed.2d 722 (2001).

Here, it is unclear from the CCA’s opinion whether it exceeded its authority by disapproving a finding with reference to something other than a legal standard, potentially infringing on the sole prerogative of the convening authority under Article 60, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 860 (2006), to disapprove a finding based on purely equitable grounds. It is also unclear from the CCA’s opinion whether the CCA abused its discretion by refusing to affirm a finding because it thought it “unreasonable” to criminalize such conduct “under the circumstances,” even though the circumstances fell squarely within the definition of child pornography crafted by Congress and referenced by the CCA. 18 U.S.C. § 2256(1) (2006) (defining “minor” as “any person under the age of eighteen years”), cited in Nerad, 67 M.J. at 751. Accordingly, the case is remanded for further proceedings before the lower court.

I.

A.

The facts relevant to the charge and specification dismissed by the CCA involve a consensual sexual relationship between Appellee, who was married, and GL, a seventeen-year-old female. They each took sexually explicit pictures of one another, including pictures in which they were engaged in sexual conduct with each other. Based on his possession of these sexually explicit pictures of GL, the Government charged Appellee with possession of child pornography in violation of Article 134, UCMJ.

Appellee not only did not contest the child pornography charge at trial, but prior to entering his pleas he signed a “Notification of Sex Offender Registration Requirement,” which informed him that he might be required to register as a sex offender upon conviction of the charged offense.

In his clemency request to the convening authority, Appellee asked that the convening authority set aside the child pornography conviction. See generally Article 60(c)(1), [141]*141UCMJ (providing that the convening authority may exercise “sole discretion” as a matter of “command prerogative” in deciding whether to set aside or modify the findings or sentence); Rule for Courts-Martial (R.C.M.) 1107(e) Discussion (noting that the convening authority may set aside a finding “for any reason or no reason”). While acknowledging that he had committed “a crime,” that the circumstances did not provide “a defense,” and that he was “in fact, guilty of this offense,” Appellee requested that the convening authority take into account the particular circumstances of his relationship with GL and “determine [that] a federal conviction for this offense is not appropriate in my ease.” The convening authority declined to grant this clemency request.

B.

Appellee did not challenge his convictions in his submission of issues to the CCA under Article 66(c), UCMJ. Rather, he requested sentence relief through an Eighth Amendment challenge to the conditions of his post-trial confinement, a request that the lower court rejected. Nerad, 67 M.J. at 749-50.

On an issue raised sua sponte, however, the CCA determined that it had the power to set aside the child pornography finding even though it could “find no legal error and the appellant never raised an issue at trial, pleading guilty to that offense.” Id. at 751. As justification for this action the CCA noted that Appellee “was in the unique position of having a relationship with someone he could legally see naked and, but for his existing marriage, legally have sex with, but could not legally possess nude pictures ... that she took [of herself] and sent to him.” Id. at 751. The CCA concluded that “possession of the photos under these circumstances is not the sort of conduct which warrants criminal prosecution for possessing child pornography and that this conviction unreasonably exaggerates the criminality of his conduct.” Id. The CCA took particular note of the fact that a conviction for child pornography would require Appellee to register as a sex offender and endure “the significant consequences of such registration.” Id. at 752. Based upon these considerations, the CCA dismissed the finding of guilty to the child pornography offense, affirmed the remaining findings, and approved the sentence as adjudged. Id. at 752-53.

II.

Article 66(e), UCMJ, states, in relevant part, that a CCA “may affirm only such findings of guilty, and the sentence or such part or amount of the sentence, as it finds correct in law and fact and determines, on the basis of the entire record, should be approved.” Broken into its constituent parts, this statutory language provides that a CCA may affirm only such findings and sentence that it: (1) finds correct in law; (2) finds correct in fact;1 and (3) determines, on the basis of the entire record, should be approved. United States v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
69 M.J. 138, 2010 CAAF LEXIS 843, 2010 WL 2946879, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-nerad-armfor-2010.