United States v. Schuring

16 M.J. 664, 1983 CMR LEXIS 867
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedJune 16, 1983
DocketCM 440977
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 16 M.J. 664 (United States v. Schuring) 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. Schuring, 16 M.J. 664, 1983 CMR LEXIS 867 (cma 1983).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

WERNER, Judge:

Although he pled not guilty to the charge of murdering, without premeditation, Mi Yong Yun, a Korean woman, appellant was convicted by a court-martial composed of members of the lesser-included offense of involuntary manslaughter while perpetrating a battery, in violation of Article 119(b)(2), Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 919(b)(2) (1976). The approved sentence provides for a dishonorable discharge, confinement at hard labor for three years, total forfeitures and reduction to Private E-l.

I. The Facts

Anchong-ni is a small South Korean village abutting the American military installation of Camp Humphreys. It has a main street traversing the length of the village which terminates at the installation’s main gate. The main street is intersected by side streets and alleys where many of the native businesses and dwellings are located. In one such alley (Duffy’s Alley) not far from the main gate of Camp Humphreys, there were several business establishments which specialized in providing various forms of nocturnal entertainment for the soldiers of the post.1 There, soldiers could avail themselves of the opportunity to drink and dance in the company of local “business women” (a euphemism for prostitutes). For those with the inclination and financial resources, other services could be purchased from them with delivery thereof usually forthcoming at a nearby house or hotel.

In an alley on the opposite side of the main street, a mere ninety-second walk from Duffy’s Alley, was the Dae Young Hotel. The hotel consisted of about a dozen small rooms surrounding a central courtyard. One could gain entry to the rooms without being observed. The hotel was used by business women for their nocturnal liaisons.

Mi Yong Yun was a business woman who plied her trade in the vicinity of Duffy’s Alley. She was known to the villagers of Anchong-ni by the nickname “Crazy Girl” because of her propensity to behave aberrantly in public. Perhaps for that reason and because she did not have a medical clearance certificate from the authorities, [667]*667she was barred from working in some of the clubs in Duffy’s Alley. On the night of 10 November 1980, Mi Yong Yun was seen soliciting American servicemen near Duffy’s Alley and may have brought one of them to her room in the Dae Young Hotel. There, at about 2230 hours, her nude corpse was discovered lying on a bed with a fluorescent light tube in her vagina and a brassiere wound tightly around her neck. Miss Yun had been beaten and strangled.

In November 1980, appellant was a thirty-two year old medical supply specialist who had completed nearly fourteen years of service. He was considered by his supervisors to be a reliable soldier with a reputation for peaceableness. He suffered from chronic alcoholism and, over the previous decade, had experienced blackouts and amnesia and had participated in various alcoholic rehabilitation programs. On the evening of 10 November 1980, appellant visited several of the clubs in Duffy’s Alley where, according to him, he drank at least a case of beer and became too intoxicated to remember everything he did that night. He said he was depressed over the deterioration of his marriage. He testified that shortly before the midnight curfew, he went to the installation main gate where he observed the military police checking incoming personnel; someone told him two women had been killed in the village. He claimed to have been concerned about the safety of a business woman he knew who lived near the main gate and went to her house to see if she was all right. He said he told her “a woman was killed.”

The business woman, Miss Ae Cha Kim, related a different story. She said that when the appellant came to her house, he behaved strangely and twice said, “I kill woman.” He asked to stay for the night but she would not permit it because she already had a client. At first he refused to leave but then said he would do so when it became quiet outside. He appeared concerned about the military police “checking the GI’s” at the main gate. The next day, Miss Kim asked her boss at Duffy’s Club, Mr. Kim, to interpret the meaning of the words “I kill woman,” as he apparently spoke better English than she. When he told her, she reported the appellant to. the Korean police. She also furnished them with a photograph of appellant which she had cut from a larger picture taken of them both a week earlier.

On 14 November 1980, largely on the basis of the information provided by Miss Kim, agents of the Camp Humphreys Field Office of the Criminal Investigation Command (CID) apprehended the appellant for the killing of Miss Yun. During their interrogation, conducted after appellant was warned of and had waived his Miranda Tempia2 and Article 313 rights, appellant confessed to strangling Miss Yun to death. A subsequent laboratory analysis by a forensic chemist revealed that a pubic hair taken from appellant matched a hair found on a quilt taken from Miss Yun’s hotel room.

II. Sufficiency of the Evidence

Appellant contends the evidence is insufficient to establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. We disagree. The government’s case rested upon four primary evidentiary pillars: (1) appellant’s confession to the CID on 14 November 1980; (2) the testimony of Miss Ae Cha Kim concerning appellant’s admissions and behavior on the night of 10 November 1980; (3) a laboratory analysis of a hair found at the scene of the crime showing that it matched a hair sample taken from appellant; and (4) a pathologist’s autopsy and report thereof. In opposition to this, the defense brought out evidence tending to exonerate appellant by suggesting that another, unidentified individual was the killer. In spite of the evidentiary conflict, we are satisfied, as were the court members, that, on the basis of the evidence as a whole, appellant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

[668]*668First, we find appellant’s confession sufficiently comprehensive and credible to establish all elements of the offense. Specifically, appellant admitted that he met Miss Yun on the night of 10 November 1980, propositioned her and went with her to a local hotel. There, despite his own optimism and Miss Yun's fondling, he was unable to attain an erection. When she laughed at him, he struck her. She then called him a bastard, to which he responded by saying, “All you women are alike,” and strangled her. The appellant went to sleep and thereafter awoke to observe Miss Yun’s strangled body with the fluorescent light tube in her vagina. He departed the hotel and eventually went to Miss Kim’s house where he told her he “killed a girl.” Appellant placed the time of the killing at 2210 hours and his departure from the hotel at 2245 hours. We perceive that certain particulars of appellant’s confession do not coincide with other, independent evidence introduced at trial. For example, appellant said he danced with the victim at the Hamilton Club when the overwhelming evidence from witnesses proved she never was there. He claimed he used a scarf to strangle her when, in fact, it was a brassiere. He said he left her body on the floor instead of on the bed where it was found. However, we do not consider these and other minor discrepancies to be so significant as to impeach the confession as a whole.

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Bluebook (online)
16 M.J. 664, 1983 CMR LEXIS 867, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-schuring-cma-1983.