United States v. Peterson

15 C.M.A. 199, 15 USCMA 199, 35 C.M.R. 171, 1964 CMA LEXIS 161, 1964 WL 4946
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedDecember 24, 1964
DocketNo. 17,892
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 15 C.M.A. 199 (United States v. Peterson) 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. Peterson, 15 C.M.A. 199, 15 USCMA 199, 35 C.M.R. 171, 1964 CMA LEXIS 161, 1964 WL 4946 (cma 1964).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court

Quinn, Chief Judge:

Convicted by a general court-martial of two specifications of filing a false claim for a dislocation allowance and travel by his wife and two specifications of larceny of money obtained by means of the claims, in violation of Articles 182 and 121, respectively, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC §§ 932 and 921, the accused was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge, confinement at hard labor for six months, and accessory punishment. The findings of guilty and the sentence were approved by the convening authority, with provision for suspension and remission of the discharge, and thereafter affirmed by a board of review. We granted further review to consider the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction.

The first claim for $166.50 was occasioned by the accused’s transfer in 1960 from North Carolina to an overseas station in Japan. Travel regulations authorized the accused to select the place of residence within the United States for his dependents, during the period of his foreign duty. See Joint Travel Regulations For The Uniformed Services, paragraph 7005. A disbursing officer, an expert witness for the Government, testified there were no “restrictions on the home selected.” The claim was filed in August 1960. In it, the accused represented that his residence was 8840 Fifth Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and that between July 5 and July 8, 1960, his wife had traveled thereto from North Carolina. The address was that of the accused’s father. The accused had lived there at the time of his enlistment in the Marine Corps in 1955, and it was the permanent address “carr[ied]” by him in his service record book. The second claim was for a dislocation allowance and dependent’s travel from Minneapolis to Jacksonville, North Carolina. It was submitted in January 1962, after accused’s reassignment to the United States.

To show the accused’s wife had not performed the travel on either of the occasions certified in the claims, the prosecution introduced a number of Government allotment checks to her order. Several of these covered the period from June 30, 1960, to October 30, 1960. All were addressed to the accused’s wife at Donalsonville, Georgia; and all bore endorsements of banks located in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and Donalsonville, Georgia. A second group of checks covered the period from October 30, 1961, to January 30, 1962. These checks were addressed to the accused’s wife at Jacksonville; and they bore endorsements of banks in Jacksonville and in Berryville, Virginia. An emergency data form, executed by the accused in September 1960, listed the wife’s residence at an address in Donalsonville, Georgia, corresponding to that on some of the allotment checks.

By deposition, the accused’s father testified that in August 1960 he was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, remodeling a home he owned in that city. He said the accused visited him there, but he did not meet Mrs. Peterson and he did not know whether she and the accused had stayed for any period of time at the Fifth Avenue home in Minneapolis. Similar deposition tes[202]*202timony was given by the accused’s sister, who also lived in Minneapolis.

At trial, the accused admitted that his wife’s travel was not performed on the dates indicated in the claims. He testified that the first claim was based upon travel actually performed about August 8 or August 9, rather than July 5 through July 8. The second claim was also in error. He attributed the differences to the fact that, in determining the dates of travel on each occasion, he used the date on his transfer order as a point of reference, without giving “any technical thought whatsoever” to the actual days of travel.1 However, he insisted that, in each instance, his wife had actually performed the travel to and from the cities indicated, for the purpose of establishing a bona fide family residence.

The accused’s father-in-law, Elijah John Humphreys, testified in his behalf. He said Mrs. Peterson left North Carolina with the accused sometime in the summer of 1960. Thereafter, he received letters from her from Minnesota. He could not recall specifically how many he received, but there were “probably” more than one. Mrs. Bessie Robinson, a cousin of Mrs. Peterson who was “reared up” with her as a sister, also testified for the accused. She stated that about a month after Mrs. Peterson left North Carolina she received a money order from her from Minnesota.

The accused explained what transpired in Minneapolis. He said that instead of proceeding directly to his father’s home, Mrs. Peterson insisted she “wanted to do something . . . on her own.” She was a school teacher. She told the accused she was “old enough to take care of herself,” without supervision. Since she was determined “to prove something” in regard to their marital relationship, the accused agreed she could enroll in a summer course at the University of Minnesota, and reside for a time on campus. However, when his father returned from Pennsylvania, it was his “intention and expectation that she would utilize” the family residence as her home. His intention was not realized.

After he arrived at his overseas station, the accused received correspondence from Mrs. Peterson indicating she had left Minneapolis and returned to Donalsonville, Georgia, to accept a teaching appointment. He immediately went to the disbursing officer to apprise him of his wife’s move. He was informed there was “no law that required a dependent” to stay a specified length of time at the residence indicated in the claim for travel and dislocation allowance. However, he advised “that when . . . [the accused] returned to the States . . . [he should] have her in Minnesota” to provide continuity in the chain of residences.

In April 1961, Mrs, Peterson gave birth to the accused’s child at the Marine Corps Hospital at Camp Lejeune. At that time, the accused submitted another emergency data form in which he listed her actual place of residence as Donalsonville, Georgia. In September 1961, Mrs. Peterson accepted a teaching position in Berryville; Virginia.

On his reassignment to the United States, the accused arranged to have his wife meet him in Minneapolis, as [203]*203he had purportedly been advised to do by the disbursing officer in Japan. They proceeded immediately to Virginia, where they picked up the children at a place that Mrs. Peterson had left them, and then went to Jacksonville, North Carolina. On January 8, 1962, the accused filed the claim for dislocation allowance and dependent’s travel from Minneapolis to Jacksonville. He was paid $183.12.

In October 1963, in a routine audit of travel claims, a representative of the General Accounting Office took exception to the payments and directed a “cheekage” against the accused’s pay. The accused’s enlistment was due to expire on December 20. He had accepted a teaching position, and did not intend to reenlist. Consequently, on receipt of the notice of exception, he exercised the option tendered him to pay the total amount of the claims in a single payment. He made the payment on October 11. Nevertheless, about a week before his scheduled separation, formal charges were filed against him, and he was not released from the service.

For purposes of this appeal, we may assume, as Government counsel argue, that the Government’s evidence alone could support a finding that Mrs. Peterson did not perform the travel indicated in the claims filed by the accused. See United States v Smith, 14 USCMA 405, 34 CMR 185.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
15 C.M.A. 199, 15 USCMA 199, 35 C.M.R. 171, 1964 CMA LEXIS 161, 1964 WL 4946, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-peterson-cma-1964.