United States v. Private E1 KEITH R. HAWKINS

73 M.J. 605, 2014 WL 1569490, 2014 CCA LEXIS 249
CourtArmy Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedApril 18, 2014
DocketARMY 20120070
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 73 M.J. 605 (United States v. Private E1 KEITH R. HAWKINS) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Army Court of Criminal 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. Private E1 KEITH R. HAWKINS, 73 M.J. 605, 2014 WL 1569490, 2014 CCA LEXIS 249 (acca 2014).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

CAMPANELLA, Judge:

A military judge sitting as a general court-martial convicted appellant, pursuant to his pleas, of failing to obey a lawful general regulation by possessing synthetic cannabi-noids and wrongfully manufacturing methamphetamine, in violation of Articles 92 and 112a, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 892 and 912a [hereinafter UCMJ]. The military judge sentenced appellant to a bad-eonduet discharge, confinement for ten months, and forfeiture of all pay and allowances. The convening authority approved only so much of the sentence as provided for a bad-conduct discharge and confinement for nine months.1 The convening authority credited appellant with forty-four days against the sentence to confinement.

This ease is before us for review pursuant to Article 66, UCMJ. Appellant raises one assignment of error, claiming the Article 112a, UCMJ, charge and its specification of manufacturing methamphetamine should be dismissed. Appellant asserts the government possessed exculpatory information that indicated the substance produced was not actually methamphetamine. Appellant further asserts the government’s failure to disclose this information is a constitutional due process violation. We find this matter warrants discussion and relief.

BACKGROUND

Appellant lived on-post at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He shared his two-bedroom quarters with another soldier, Private First Class (PFC) BB, and that soldier’s wife, TS.2

On 25 September 2011, PFC BB asked appellant to purchase pseudoephedrine for him and his wife, expressly intending to use it to manufacture methamphetamine. Knowing PFC BB’s intention, appellant purchased the pseudoephedrine and gave it to PFC BB andTS.

That same day, appellant became aware that PFC BB was manufacturing methamphetamine inside appellant’s quarters when he smelled “chemicals” emanating from the laundry room. When appellant checked to see what was causing the odor, he found PFC BB and TS “making meth.” Appellant, surprised that PFC BB was manufacturing methamphetamine inside his quarters, told PFC BB to immediately stop and to leave the house by the next morning.

The next morning, appellant observed that “everything [was] out of the house,” but PFC BB and his wife had not left. Appellant and PFC BB then went to physical training. Af-terwards, PFC BB asked appellant again to buy him pseudoephedrine. Again, knowing PFC BB’s purpose was to manufacture methamphetamine, appellant bought PFC BB the pseudoephedrine. Appellant also purchased synthetic eannabinoids that morning.

Later that day, appellant reported PFC BB’s methamphetamine manufacturing enterprise to his chain of command and gave his consent to search his quarters. A search was conducted and a makeshift methamphetamine lab was found. The dangerous materials from the lab were destroyed by local civilian law enforcement at the request of Fort Campbell authorities. The remaining lab materials and chemicals were seized by Army criminal investigators and sent to a [608]*608laboratory for drug testing. Synthetic ean-nabinoids were also seized from the home.

The original charges preferred against appellant included, inter alia, Article 112a, UCMJ, wrongful manufacture of methamphetamine, as well as attempted manufacture of methamphetamine, a violation of Article 80, UCMJ.

Prior to the government receiving the drug test results from the laboratory, appellant entered into a pretrial agreement with the government to plead guilty to the wrongful manufacture of one gram of methamphetamine, and to an Article 92, UCMJ, offense for failing to obey a lawful general regulation by possessing synthetic cannabinoids. In exchange, the government agreed to limit appellant’s sentence to confinement and to dismiss with prejudice all of the charges and specifications to which appellant pleaded not guilty, including the attempted manufacture of methamphetamine.

As part of the pretrial agreement, appellant agreed to enter into a stipulation of fact with the government. A civilian police seizure report attached as an enclosure to the stipulation of fact indicated that 5.5 grams of methamphetamine had been seized from appellant’s home.

On 24 January 2012, consistent with the pretrial agreement, the providence inquiry, and the stipulation of fact, the military judge accepted appellant’s pleas of guilty and dismissed with prejudice the Article 80, UCMJ, charge and its specification of attempted manufacture of methamphetamine.

While in confinement, appellant encountered PFC BB, who had been tried after appellant’s court-martial. Private First Class BB informed appellant that PFC BB and his wife had apparently been unsuccessful in their attempts to actually create methamphetamine in appellant’s quarters on 25 and 26 September 2011. Accordingly, PFC BB only pleaded guilty to and was convicted of attempted manufacture of methamphetamine.

By the time appellant learned this information from PFC BB, the convening authority had already taken action on appellant’s ease.

Appellant asks this court to consider materials outside his record of trial, but within PFC BB’s record of trial, to determine whether the government possessed exculpatory information or not. The materials from PFC BB’s record of trial include: (1) an excerpt from PFC BB’s Article 32, UCMJ, pretrial investigation’s non-verbatim summarized transcript; (2) PFC BB’s offer to plead guilty; (3) the stipulation of fact from BB’s case; (4) PFC BB’s charge sheet; and (5) an excerpt from PFC BB’s trial transcript.

Private First Class BB’s Article 32, UCMJ, investigation took place on 7 February 2012, fourteen days after appellant’s guilty plea and conviction. The investigation transcript contains summarized testimony from an Army drug suppression agent who testified that on the preceding Friday (3 February 2012), Army criminal investigators received the chemical laboratory results for the substances submitted for testing from the methamphetamine laboratory crime scene at appellant’s home. In response to government questions about the government laboratory results, the agent stated “no meth was revealed, just the precursors to create meth such as Sudafed,” but on cross examination, the agent further stated “we are still unsure of [sic] what [PFC BB] had at the scene was meth.” In PFC BB’s case, the government stipulated that the unknown substance created was not, in fact, methamphetamine.

The actual laboratory results are not included in the materials submitted to this court for review by appellant. Appellant submits that, to date, the government has not provided him the actual results of the laboratory drug tests. Appellate defense counsel has not asked this court to order such a disclosure. There is nothing in appellant’s record of trial or appellate filings to suggest that appellant requested discovery of such evidence before, during, or after his court-martial.

LAW AND DISCUSSION

At the outset, we note this opinion addresses the government’s obligation to disclose exculpatory information involving appellant’s ease that is within its possession [609]*609post-trial but prior to action by the convening authority.

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United States v. Private E1 KEITH R. HAWKINS
73 M.J. 605 (Army Court of Criminal Appeals, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
73 M.J. 605, 2014 WL 1569490, 2014 CCA LEXIS 249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-private-e1-keith-r-hawkins-acca-2014.