United States v. Pettersen

14 M.J. 608, 1982 CMR LEXIS 888
CourtU.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review
DecidedAugust 18, 1982
DocketACM S25582
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 14 M.J. 608 (United States v. Pettersen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Pettersen, 14 M.J. 608, 1982 CMR LEXIS 888 (usnmcmilrev 1982).

Opinions

DECISION

MILLER, Judge:

Before a special court-martial, military judge alone, the accused was convicted pursuant to his pleas of a four-day absence without leave (AWOL), failure to obey a lawful general regulation,1 and willful disobedience of a lawful order of his superior non-commissioned officer to return to duty. These offenses were charged as violations of Articles 86, 92, and 91, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 886, 892, 891, respectively.2

The approved sentence consists of a bad-conduct discharge, four months’ confinement at hard labor, forfeiture of $367.00 per month for four months, and reduction to airman basic.

In addition to applying the holding of United States v. Lynch, 13 M.J. 394 (C.M.A. 1982), to cases properly before this court, we determine that some degree of submission to an order is required before it can constitute exercise of military control so as to terminate that servicemember’s absence. Finally, we determine that the failure of an absentee to submit to a lawful verbal order to terminate his absence, issued by a superi- or who lacks authority to apprehend, is an offense separately chargeable and punishable from the AWOL offense itself.

The accused, while assigned to McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, absented himself from duty on 21 January 1982. On 22 January, when the accused had been absent from duty in excess of 24 hours, his first sergeant, MSgt. S., accompanied by the accused’s duty supervisor, TSgt. P., went to the accused’s off-base residence. The first sergeant knocked on the accused’s door, and the accused, shirtless and dressed only in jeans, answered. The first sergeant immediately asked the accused if he was ready to return to duty. The accused responded, “No.” The first sergeant then asked the accused if he would allow the two of them to enter the residence and talk without traffic noise. The accused opened his front door wider and both men entered.

After he had entered, the first sergeant issued the following two orders to the accused:

As your first sergeant I’m giving you an order now to come on back to the base with Sergeant Peterson [the accused’s duty supervisor] and myself.
I want you to clearly understand that I’m giving you a direct order to get dressed in your fatigues and accompany Tech Sergeant Peterson and myself back to the base. Do you understand?

The first order was given and refused twice, prior to issuance of the second order.

[610]*610The accused responded to the second order by saying that if he were given another order, somebody was going to get hurt.

Both the first sergeant and duty supervisor, “felt the presence of” another party observing them (in fact, this was true), and both believed the accused when he said that if another order was given, somebody would get hurt. Consequently, they immediately departed the premises and returned to the base.

On 25 January 1982, the accused voluntarily returned to the base and reported to his first sergeant, thus terminating his AWOL status. His commander immediately placed him in pretrial confinement. In accordance with Air Force Manual 111-1 (2 July 1973), Military Justice Guide, Paragraph 3-25, the staff judge advocate to the special court-martial convening authority conducted a pretrial confinement hearing. Based upon this hearing officer’s recommendation, the convening authority ordered that the accused’s pretrial confinement be continued until trial. The accused was not released from pretrial confinement prior to his conviction on 17 February 1982.

I

We look first to the question of whether the pretrial confinement hearing in this case met the minimum Fourth Amendment requirement of such hearings, to wit, “the detached judgment of a neutral magistrate,” Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 114, 95 S.Ct. 854, 863, 43 L.Ed.2d 54, 65 (1975). In view of the holding of United States v. Lynch, supra, we determine that it did not.

[A] magistrate’s decision based upon the advice of such a person [a staff judge advocate] cannot realistically be considered neutral and detached.
* * * * * *
[A] commanding officer who refers cases to courts-martial must be considered similarly disqualified.

Id. at 396 and 397.

Although, Lynch, supra, clearly identifies this error, the guidance it offers concerning application of its remedy for the error3 is considerably less clear.

[W]e apply our decision in this case prospectively to hearings on pretrial confinement conducted subsequent to the issuance of our mandate and cases on granted petitions pending before this court. [Emphasis added.]

Id. at 397.

The latter portion of this sentence is subject to two differing interpretations.

The first assumes that the Court, contrary to the holding of the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Johnson, -U.S.-, 102 S.Ct. 2579, 73 L.Ed.2d 202 (1982), intended to carve out a prospective haven for those few cases in which an accused was fortunate enough to have appellate defense counsel, who not only raised this or some other issue to the Court of Military Appeals on the accused’s behalf but also obtained a grant of review before the “magical” date of 2 August 1982.

The second, which we adopt, assumes no such intent on the part of the Court of Military Appeals. Rather, it presumes that the Court of Military Appeals chose to grant relief only on cases pending before it, because it presumed this Court would, in accordance with the reasons stated in United States v. Johnson, supra, faithfully apply the principles and remedies enunciated in United States v. Lynch, supra, to all cases undergoing appellate review in the Air Force judiciary system; cases over which we, rather than the Court of Military Appeals, currently maintain jurisdiction.

In United States v. Johnson, supra, the Supreme Court held that:

[A] decision of this Court construing the Fourth Amendment is to be applied retroactively to all convictions that were not yet final at the time the decision was rendered.

Id., at p. -, 102 S.Ct. at p. 2594, 73 L.Ed.2d at p. 222.

[611]*611Because Gerstein v. Pugh, supra, Courtney v. Williams, 1 M.J. 267 (C.M.A. 1976), and United States v. Lynch, supra, involve Fourth Amendment issues, the holding of United States v. Johnson, supra, is applicable.

Here, we perceive our judicial duties as applying the holding of the Court of Military Appeals in a manner that assures equal application of the rule to all accused similarly situated. The Lynch, supra, holding and the remedy afforded by the Court of Military Appeals will be applied not only in this case, but in all similar cases properly before this Court, wherein the convictions are not final.

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Bluebook (online)
14 M.J. 608, 1982 CMR LEXIS 888, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-pettersen-usnmcmilrev-1982.