United States v. Roderick

62 M.J. 425, 2006 CAAF LEXIS 269, 2006 WL 571111
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Armed Forces
DecidedMarch 8, 2006
Docket05-0195/AF
StatusPublished
Cited by117 cases

This text of 62 M.J. 425 (United States v. Roderick) 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. Roderick, 62 M.J. 425, 2006 CAAF LEXIS 269, 2006 WL 571111 (Ark. 2006).

Opinions

Judge ERDMANN

delivered the opinion of the court.

Staff Sergeant Casey Roderick pled guilty to receiving and possessing child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A (2000), of the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA), as well as one specification of using a minor to create depictions of sexually explicit conduct in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) (2000), of the CPPA, and one specification of committing indecent acts upon the body of a child, all charged under Article 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. § 934 (2000). Roderick pled not guilty to two specifications of using a minor to create depictions of sexually explicit conduct in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a), one specification of committing indecent acts upon the body of a child, three specifications of taking indecent liberties with a child and one specification of wrongfully endeavoring to influence a witness, all charged under Article 134, UCMJ, as well. Roderick was convicted by a military judge sitting alone as a general court-martial of all charges except endeavoring to influence a witness and one specification of committing indecent acts upon a child. Roderick was sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, seven years of confinement and reduction to lowest enlisted grade.

The convening authority approved the sentence. The United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals modified the findings with regard to the CPPA charges in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 122 S.Ct. 1389, 152 L.Ed.2d 403 (2002), and this court’s decision in United States v. O’Connor, 58 M.J. 450 (C.A.A.F.2003). United States v. Roderick, No. ACM 34977, 2004 WL 2421871, 2004 CCA Lexis 246 (A.F.Ct.Crim.App. Oct. 29, 2004). The Air Force court affirmed Roderick’s conviction on the child pornography charges as convictions of the lesser included offense of engaging in conduct that is of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces under clause 2 of Article 134, UCMJ. The court affirmed the remaining charges and Roderick’s sentence. Id., 2004 WL 2421871 at *5-6, 2004 CCA Lexis 246 at *15-*16.

We granted review in this case to determine whether Roderick’s guilty plea to receiving child pornography was provident to the lesser included offense of service-discrediting conduct. We also considered whether there was legally sufficient evidence to support two of the specifications of using a minor to create child pornography and taking indecent liberties, whether the Air Force court properly performed the legal sufficiency review, and whether the charges against Roderick were multiplieious or unreasonably multiplied.1 We conclude that the lower court properly affirmed Roderick’s plea as provident to a lesser included offense and that the evidence was legally sufficient to support the charge of using one of his daughters to create sexually explicit images but not the other. We conclude that the Air Force court, in performing its legal sufficiency review, improperly relied on evidence that was not before the military judge, but that the error was harmless. Finally, we conclude [428]*428that the charges against Roderick were not multiplicious, but that the military judge erred by not considering dismissal of the charges as a remedy for the unreasonable multiplication of the charges. We find no prejudice to Roderick’s sentence.

BACKGROUND

Roderick is a single father of two young girls, CMR and LMR. While living on Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, Roderick agreed to watch a friend’s two children for the weekend. The next week, one of the visiting children — eight-year-old SKA — had a regularly scheduled meeting with a psychologist. During the meeting, SKA told the psychologist that Roderick had sexually abused her and taken inappropriate photographs of her.

Based on SKA’s report the Air Force Office of Special Investigation (AFOSI) launched an investigation. Agents searched Roderick’s house and found computer disks, photographs, undeveloped film and negatives all depicting suspected child pornography, some of which Roderick had created and some of which he had downloaded from the Internet. Many of the photographs showed Roderick’s own two daughters in various states of undress. Over one hundred of the photographs depicted SKA. In addition, AFOSI found three stories on Roderick’s computer that described in graphic detail instances of sexual relations between fathers and their daughters.

DISCUSSION

On appeal, Roderick raises three issues. He argues that his guilty plea to receiving child pornography was improvident, that the evidence was legally insufficient to convict him of using his daughters to create sexually explicit photographs or taking indecent liberties with his daughters, and that the charges of taking indecent liberties with all three girls were multiplicious or an unreasonable multiplication of charges. We will address each of Roderick’s arguments in turn.

I. Providence of Guilty Plea to Receiving Child Pornography

When an appellant challenges the providence of his guilty plea on appeal, we consider whether there is a “substantial basis in law and fact for questioning the guilty plea.” United States v. Jordan, 57 M.J. 236, 238 (C.A.A.F.2002) (citing United States v. Prater, 32 M.J. 433, 436 (C.M.A.1991)). Roderick’s first argument is that the Air Force court erred by affirming his conviction for receiving child pornography in violation of the CPPA as a lesser included offense under clause 2 of Article 134, UCMJ, which prohibits service-discrediting conduct. Roderick argues that it was error to affirm his plea as provident to the lesser included offense because the military judge used an unconstitutional definition of “child pornography” during the providence inquiry, which made no distinction between images of “actual” and “virtual” children.

We resolved this issue in United States v. Mason, 60 M.J. 15 (C.A.A.F.2004). In Mason we held that “receipt or possession of ‘virtual’ child pornography can, like ‘actual’ child pornography, be service-discrediting or prejudicial to good order and discipline.” Id. at 20. Roderick’s attempt to distinguish his ease from Mason is unpersuasive. As we stated in Mason, a charge of receiving child pornography under clause 2 of Article 134, UCMJ, can be based on “actual” or “virtual” images. Id. Thus, the military judge’s definition which included both “actual” and “virtual” images did not impact this lesser included charge.

Roderick admitted during the providence inquiry that he “failed to live up to” the “higher standard” that applies to members of the military. Roderick admitted that his actions in downloading child pornography from the Internet “may lower the service in public esteem” if people became aware of what he was doing and that “under the circumstances [his] conduct ...

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
62 M.J. 425, 2006 CAAF LEXIS 269, 2006 WL 571111, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-roderick-armfor-2006.