United States v. Olson

74 M.J. 132, 2015 CAAF LEXIS 326, 2015 WL 1514523
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Armed Forces
DecidedApril 2, 2015
Docket14-0166/AF
StatusPublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 74 M.J. 132 (United States v. Olson) 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. Olson, 74 M.J. 132, 2015 CAAF LEXIS 326, 2015 WL 1514523 (Ark. 2015).

Opinions

Judge STUCKY delivered the opinion of the Court.

We granted review to determine whether the military judge erred by denying Appellant’s motion to suppress the fruits of a law enforcement search of her residence. We hold that the military judge’s finding that Appellant voluntarily consented to the search was not clearly erroneous, and he did not abuse his discretion in admitting the seized evidence.

I. Posture of the Case

A special court-martial composed of officer members convicted Appellant, contrary to her pleas, of violating a lawful general regulation by possessing drug paraphernalia; recklessly spoiling her residence; possessing ketamine, a Schedule III controlled substance; and larceny of 1000 pills of cyclo-benzaprine, military property of the United States. Articles 92, 109, 112a, 121, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. §§ 892, 909, 912a, 921 (2012). Appellant was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge, confinement for four months, forfeiture of $978 pay per month for four months, and reduction to the lowest enlisted grade. The convening authority reduced the period of forfeitures to three months but otherwise approved the adjudged sentence.

A panel of the United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the approved findings and sentence. United States v. Olson, No. S32034, 2013 CCA LEXIS 822, at *8, 2013 WL 5436496, at *3 (A.F.Ct.Crim.App. Sept. 11, 2013) (unpublished). This Court set aside that judgment and remanded for a hearing on whether the panel that decided her case was properly constituted. United States v. Olson, 73 M.J. 126 (C.A.A.F.2013) (summary disposition). A differently constituted panel reaffirmed the approved findings and sentence, without reference to whether the initial panel was properly constituted. United States v. Olson, No. S32034 (rem), 2014 CCA LEXIS 175, at *8, 2014 WL 1301527, at *3 (A.F.Ct.Crim.App. Mar. 18, 2014).

II. Background

After holding a suppression hearing addressing the voluntariness of Appellant’s consent to the search of her residence, the military judge made findings of facts summarized below.

In early August 2011, Appellant’s supervisor contacted the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI), reporting that Appellant’s husband, a civilian, might be a source of drugs on the installation. On August 17, 2011, agents of the AFOSI had Appellant travel to the AFOSI detachment headquarters to be interviewed, and she arrived about 11:00 a.m. At the request of the AFOSI agents, she relinquished her cell phone during the interview. Her phone was not searched.

Appellant was taken into a conference room, not a small interview room. She was not restrained in any manner. The agents did not intimidate her through threats or loud conduct. She completed an information form. The agents advised Appellant that her husband was. suspected of distributing illegal drugs on base and that he had been arrested by Calvert County, Maryland, police. The agents asked for consent to search her residence, which she was reluctant to give. Appellant wanted to telephone her husband but was dissuaded from doing so by the agents. At the time, Appellant resided off base with her husband in Maryland, although he had been absent from the house since July. During a smoke break outside the building, an agent tried to convince her to consent to the search. Appellant understood that the agents could try to convince her to consent, and she worried that they were trying to get her in trouble.

The military judge noted that Appellant testified on the motion that the agents had told her they would get a search warrant if she declined to consent but that none of the agents confirmed that. He did not make a finding as to whether an agent actually made the statement about getting a search warrant. Instead, he concluded: ‘Whether or not this statement was made, the accused may have inferred or deduced that this statement was made or was the case based on the [134]*134surrounding circumstances and her own knowledge of law enforcement.”

At approximately 1:00 p.m., Appellant provided consent for the agents to search her home. The military judge found that the agents never informed her that she was a suspect prior to her providing consent: “The consent form does not include a statement of suspicion or knowledge of wrongdoing.” Appellant drove to her residence, followed by the AFOSI agents, who, with the assistance of local civilian police, searched the residence between 2:00 p.m. on August 17, and 12:40 a.m. on August 18.

At about 1:00 a.m. on August 18, Appellant, under Article 81, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 831 (2012), rights advisement, provided consent to search her vehicle, $nd at 4:00 a.m. she admitted knowing that drug para^ phernalia was located in her residence. She also consented to a urinalysis.

At trial, Appellant moved to suppress the fruits of the search of her residence and all derivative evidence, including her confession, arguing that her consent was involuntary.

III. Discussion

“A military judge’s decision to admit or exclude evidence is reviewed for an abuse of discretion.” United States v. Jasper, 72 M.J. 276, 279 (C.A.A.F.2013). A military judge abuses his discretion if “his findings of fact are clearly erroneous or his conclusions of law are incorrect.” United States v. Wicks, 73 M.J. 93, 98 (C.A.A.F.2014), reconsideration denied, 73 M.J. 264 (C.A.A.F.2014).

The Fourth Amendment protects persons from unreasonable searches of, and seizures from, their homes. 'U.S. Const, amend. IV. A warrantless search is per se unreasonable “subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions,” one of which is “a search that is conducted pursuant to consent.” Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 219, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

“Searches may be conducted of any person or property with lawful consent.” Military Rule of Evidence (M.R.E.) 314(e)(1). “To be valid, consent must be given voluntarily.” M.R.E. 314(e)(4). The test for voluntariness is whether the consent was Appellant’s own “‘essentially free and unconstrained choice’ ” or was her will overborne and her “ ‘capacity for self-determination critically impaired.’” United States v. Watson, 423 U.S. 411, 424, 96 S.Ct. 820, 46 L.Ed.2d 698 (1976) (quoting Bustamonte, 412 U.S. at 225, 93 S.Ct. 2041). The prosecution has the burden of proving consent by clear and convincing evidence. M.R.E. 314(e)(6).

“[Wjhether a consent to a search was in fact “voluntary5 or was the product of duress or coercion, express or implied, is a question of fact to be determined from the totality of all the circumstances.” Bustamonte, 412 U.S. at 227, 93 S.Ct. 2041; see United States v. Piren, 74 M.J. 24, 28 (C.A.A.F.2015); M.R.E. 314(e)(4). We review the evidence in the' light most favorable to the prevailing party at trial. Piren, 74 M.J. at 28. “We will not overturn a military judge’s finding that a consent to search was voluntary unless it is unsupported by the evidence or clearly erroneous,”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
74 M.J. 132, 2015 CAAF LEXIS 326, 2015 WL 1514523, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-olson-armfor-2015.