United States v. Ontiveros

59 M.J. 639, 2003 CCA LEXIS 268, 2003 WL 22794395
U S Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals·Decided November 25, 2003·No. CGCMG 0181; Docket No. 1178·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinions

KANTOR, Judge:

Appellant was tried by general court-martial, military judge alone. Pursuant to his pleas of guilty, entered in accordance with a pretrial agreement, he was found guilty of one specification of conspiracy to steal and wrongfully dispose of military property of the United States of a value greater than $100, in violation of Article 81, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. § 881; one specification of wrongful disposition of military property of the United States of a value greater than $100, in violation of Article 108, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 908; and one specification of larceny of military property of the United States of a value greater than $100, in violation of Article 121, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 921. The judge sentenced Appellant to a bad-conduct discharge, confinement for six months, and reduction to E-3. The Convening Authority approved the adjudged sentence, which was within the sentence limits of the pretrial agreement.

Before this Court, Appellant has assigned one error: that his pleas of guilty were improvident because the military judge advised him mistakenly that he faced potential maximum confinement for thirty years, which is significantly greater than the three years confinement Appellant contends was authorized for the alleged offenses. Citing United States v. Hunt, 10 M.J. 222, 223 (C.M.A.1981), Appellant asserts that, as a consequence, there was a substantial misunder[640] standing of the maximum punishment, which vitiates the providence of his guilty pleas, and necessitates the setting aside of the findings of guilty and the ordering of a rehearing. Furthermore, even if the plea is deemed provident, Appellant asserts that he suffered prejudicial error which, at the very least, requires sentence reassessment.

Appellant bases his assertion of sentence disparity on a change in the authorized maximum punishment for wrongful disposition and larceny of military property of the United States under Articles 108 and 121, UCMJ. On the date charges were preferred against Appellant, 7 February 2002, the Manual for Courts-Martial (MCM), United States (2000 ed.), provided that confinement for one year was authorized for selling or otherwise disposing of military property of a value of $100 or less and ten years confinement was authorized if the property was of a value of more than $100. MCM, Pt. IV, H32.e.(l), United States, (2000 ed.). The same value requirements were set out in MCM, Pt. IV, 1146.e.(l), United States, (2000 ed.) for larceny of military property under Article 121, UCMJ. Also, MCM, Pt. IV, H5.e. United States, (2000 ed.) established that the maximum punishment for Appellant’s third offense of conspiracy to steal and wrongfully dispose of military property of the United States would be the punishment authorized for the offense constituting the object of the conspiracy. Based on these provisions, and the three specifications which alleged military property of a value greater than $100, the military judge advised Appellant that he was subject to a possible maximum confinement of thirty years. Appellant submits that this maximum confinement was reduced to three years confinement by Executive Order 13,262, which became effective before trial, on 15 May 2002. Exec. Order No. 13,262, 67 Fed.Reg. 18,773 (April 11, 2002). That Executive Order changed the military property value requirement for Article 108 and 121, UCMJ, offenses from $100 to $500, so that a value of $100 or less became $500 or less and a value of more than $100 became more than $500. Exec. Order No 13,262, 67 Fed.Reg. 18,779 (April 11, 2002). Concerning the effective date of this amendment, the Executive Order provided “that for offenses committed prior to May 15, 2002, for which a sentence is adjudged on or after May 15, 2002, if the maximum punishment authorized in this Manual is less than that previously authorized, the lesser maximum authorized punishment shall apply.” 67 Fed.Reg. at 18,779. Since the offenses were all committed in late December of 2001, the correct maximum punishment for his offenses at the time of trial was one year for each offense for a total of three years confinement, not thirty years.

Effect of Sentence Advice on Guilty Plea

There is no question that Appellant was incorrectly advised of the maximum punishment for the offenses to which he pled guilty. Nevertheless, we find his pleas to be provident after assessing the facts of the case because we believe the maximum punishment advice that was incorrectly given to him by the military judge was an insubstantial factor in the decision to plead guilty. United States v. Hunt, 10 M.J. 222, 223 (C.M.A.1981); United States v. Mincey, 42 M.J. 376, 378 (1995). In making that determination, all the circumstances of the case have been evaluated, as called for in Hunt, supra, and Mincey, supra. The facts reveal that Appellant, as a Second Class Gunner’s Mate with access to the armory at the Naval Training Center, Cape May, New Jersey, obtained from the armory three soft body armor vests, two of which were wrapped in their original plastic package. He, then, assisted his co-conspirator, Yeoman Second Class (YN2) Nicole MeAuley, in placing the three vests in the trunk of her car for transport to New York and disposition by her former boyfriend. The understanding was that the former boyfriend would sell the vests and split the proceeds with YN2 MeAuley, and that she, in turn, would split what she received with Appellant. In the face of the evidence against him, which included the cost of each vest to the Coast Guard of $349.99, Appellant and his counsel negotiated a pretrial agreement that guaranteed approval by the Convening Authority of no more than eight months confinement, in return for Appellant’s pleas of guilty. In our assessment of these facts, the four factors, relied upon in United States v. Poole, 26 M.J. 272 (C.M.A.1988), lead us to [641] the conclusion that the pleas of guilty were provident.

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United States v. Ontiveros, 59 M.J. 639, 2003 CCA LEXIS 268, 2003 WL 22794395 (uscgcoca 2003).

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