United States v. Rodriquez

18 M.J. 363, 1984 CMA LEXIS 18374
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedAugust 20, 1984
DocketNo. 45317; ACM 23545
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 18 M.J. 363 (United States v. Rodriquez) 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. Rodriquez, 18 M.J. 363, 1984 CMA LEXIS 18374 (cma 1984).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court

FLETCHER, Judge:

On March 4, 1982, appellant was tried by a general court-martial composed of a military judge and members at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. Contrary to her pleas, she was found guilty of five specifications of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline or to the discredit of the armed forces, in violation of Article 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 934, and five specifications of conduct unbecoming an officer, in violation of Article 133, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 933. She was sentenced to dismissal from the armed forces and forfeiture of $500.00 pay per month for 3 months. The convening authority approved this sentence. The United States Air Force Court of Military Review dismissed specification 5 of Charge I because of an instructional error. It affirmed the remaining findings of guilty, and, after reassessment of the sentence, affirmed the approved sentence.

This Court specified the following issue of law:

WHETHER SPECIFICATIONS 1 THROUGH 4 OF CHARGE I, ALLEGED AS VIOLATIONS OF ARTICLE 134, U.C.M.J., ARE MULTIPLICIOUS WITH THE SIMILARLY NUMBERED SPECIFICATIONS OF CHARGE II, ALLEGED AS VIOLATIONS OF ARTICLE 133, U.C.M.J.

We have considered this question in light of the decision of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977), and the decision of this Court in United States v. Baker, 14 [364]*364M.J. 361 (C.M.A. 1983). We conclude that specifications 1 through 4 of Charge I must be dismissed since they are lesser-included offenses of specifications 1 through 4 of Charge II.

Resolution of a multiplicity-for-findings question begins with examination of the findings of guilty which are said to be multiplicious. United States v. Baker, supra at 368. In the present case appellant was found guilty, inter alia,1 of the following charges and specifications:

Charge I: Violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 134.
Specification 1: In that FIRST LIEUTENANT LYDIA R. RODRIQUEZ, United States Air Force, 96th Security Police Squadron, did, at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, on or about 17 July 1981, wrongfully use marihuana.
Specification 2: In that FIRST LIEUTENANT LYDIA R. RODRIQUEZ, then SECOND LIEUTENANT, United States Air Force, 96th Security Police Squadron, did, at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, on or about 15 May 1981, wrongfully possess marihuana.
Specification 3: In that FIRST LIEUTENANT LYDIA R. RODRIQUEZ, then SECOND LIEUTENANT, United States Air Force, 96th Security Police Squadron, did, at Abilene, Texas, in about February 1981, wrongfully use marihuana.
Specification 4: In that FIRST LIEUTENANT LYDIA R. RODRIQUEZ, United States Air Force, 96th Security Police Squadron, did, at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, in about July 1981, wrongfully commit an indecent, lewd, and lascivious act with Senior Airman Robert L. Bublitz by putting her hand on his groin and squeezing him.
CHARGE II: Violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 133. Specification 1: In that FIRST LIEUTENANT LYDIA R. RODRIQUEZ, United States Air Force, 96th Security Police Squadron, did, at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, on or about 17 July 1981 engage in conduct unbecoming an officer, to wit: wrongfully using marihuana.
Specification 2: In that FIRST LIEUTENANT LYDIA R. RODRIQUEZ, then SECOND LIEUTENANT, United States Air Force, 96th Security Police Squadron, did, at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, on or about 15 May 1981, engage in conduct unbecoming an officer, to wit: wrongfully possessing marihuana.
[365]*365Specification 3: In that FIRST LIEUTENANT LYDIA R. RODRIQUEZ, then SECOND LIEUTENANT, United States Air Force, 96th Security Police Squadron, did, at Abilene, Texas, in about February, 1981, engage in conduct unbecoming an officer, to wit: wrongfully using marihuana.
Specification 4: In that FIRST LIEUTENANT LYDIA R. RODRIQUEZ, United States Air Force, 96th Security Police Squadron, did, at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, in about July 1981, engage in conduct unbecoming an officer, to wit: wrongfully committing an indecent, lewd, and lascivious act with Senior Airman Robert L. Bublitz by putting her hand on his groin and squeezing him.

The Government called numerous witnesses who testified as to the occurrence of the charged offenses. The defense responded with witnesses of its own who contradicted to various degrees the Government’s proof. Defense counsel stated in his closing argument that the central issue was the credibility of the government witnesses in terms of their motive for testifying and the inconsistency of their testimony. No real dispute existed between the parties on the question of the service-discrediting nature of the conduct if in fact it was found to have occurred.

The military judge provided the following instructions concerning findings as to Charge I:

With respect to Charge I, specifications 1, 2, and 3 allege a wrongful use, a wrongful possession, and an additional wrongful use of marihuana. Now, the elements of these offenses are essentially the same. First of all, that at the time and place alleged, and those alleged in each of the specifications, the accused either used or possessed marihuana. That’s the first element. The second offense [sic] is that such use or possession by the accused was wrongful. And the third element is that under the circumstances the conduct of the accused was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.
Now, you are advised that in connection with the last element of the offense, to the prejudice of good order and discipline refers only to acts directly prejudicial to good order and discipline and not to acts which are prejudicial only in a remote or indirect sense. An irregular or improper act on the part of a member of the military service can scarcely be conceived which may not be regarded as in some indirect or remote sense prejudicing discipline. But Article 134 does not contemplate such distant effects and is confined to cases in which the prejudice is reasonably direct.
Discredit as used in Article 134 means to injure the reputation of. It refers to conduct which has a tendency to bring the service into disrepute or which tends to lower the public esteem.

In addition, he provided the following instructions concerning findings as to Charge II:

With respect to Charge II and the specifications thereunder, a number of the elements of those offenses are the same thing as they are in Charge I. If you will notice, Charge II essentially alleges that the acts as allegedly done in Charge I are acts which are unbecoming an officer.
With respect to specifications 1, 2, and 3 the elements are the same as I have told you earlier.

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Bluebook (online)
18 M.J. 363, 1984 CMA LEXIS 18374, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-rodriquez-cma-1984.