United States v. Sherman

51 M.J. 73, 1999 CAAF LEXIS 1038, 1999 WL 503900
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Armed Forces
DecidedJuly 15, 1999
Docket98-0489/NA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 51 M.J. 73 (United States v. Sherman) 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. Sherman, 51 M.J. 73, 1999 CAAF LEXIS 1038, 1999 WL 503900 (Ark. 1999).

Opinions

Judge SULLIVAN

delivered the opinion of the Court.

On October 18, 1995, appellant was tried by a special court-martial composed of a military judge sitting alone at Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia. Pursuant to his pleas, he was found guilty of 2 specifications of disrespect to a commissioned officer, assault with a dangerous weapon, wrongful discharge of a firearm, and communicating a threat, in violation of Articles 89, 128, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC §§ 889, 928, and 934, respectively. He was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge, 150 days’ confinement, forfeiture of $200.00 pay per month for 5 months, and reduction to pay grade E-l.

On January 4, 1996, the convening authority approved the sentence as adjudged. Pursuant to a pretrial agreement, however, he suspended confinement in excess of 100 days for 12 months from the date of trial. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the findings of guilty and sentence in an unpublished opinion. On January 16, 1998, that same court denied appellant’s requests for reconsideration and a post-trial evidentiary hearing.

On August 17, 1998, this Court granted review on the following issues:

[74]*74I
WHETHER APPELLANT’S PRETRIAL AGREEMENT VIOLATED PUBLIC POLICY BECAUSE IT CONTAINED AN ILLEGAL SUB ROSA TERM THAT REQUIRED APPELLANT TO WAIVE MOTIONS OF UNLAWFUL COMMAND INFLUENCE AND ILLEGAL PRETRIAL CONFINEMENT.
II
WHETHER THE LOWER COURT EXCEEDED ITS FACTFINDING POWERS UNDER ARTICLE 66(c), UCMJ, BY RESOLVING A MATERIAL FACTUAL DISPUTE WITHOUT ORDERING AN EVIDENTIARY HEARING.

We hold that a DuBay1 hearing is required to determine whether there was a sub rosa agreement between the parties not to raise issues of unlawful command influence and the legality of appellant’s pretrial confinement. See United States v. Payton, 23 MJ 379 (CMA 1987); see generally United States v. Ginn, 47 MJ 236 (1997).

Appellant was placed in pretrial confinement on July 9, 1995, the date of the alleged offenses, and remained there until October 17, 1995, approximately 100 days. At trial, he pleaded guilty to the charged offenses, which concerned a violent disagreement with his command superiors at an off-duty barbecue for command members at his house. No motions were made by defense counsel, prior to appellant entering his guilty pleas or subsequent thereto, concerning unlawful command influence or unlawful pretrial confinement. Appellant also told the military judge that “the written agreement [was] the entire agreement between [him] and the convening authority.”

On April 7, 1997, appellant sent a letter to his appellate defense counsel alleging that unlawful command influence had affected his trial and that his pretrial confinement was illegal. He further stated that he understood, “if we brought up these issues we would lose the pretrial agreement, and the prosecution would bring new charges to keep me confined for another 120 days.” He detailed in his letter his basis for concluding that unlawful command influence occurred in his case and why his two pretrial confinement hearings were also unlawfully influenced by command authorities. He then concluded:

Again, I wanted to raise these issues, but the deal offered by the prosecution was to agree to the written provisions of the pretrial agreement, and in addition, to not bring up the issue of unlawful command influence or the IRO/unlawful confinement issue, or I would not get the deal. At the time, under the duress of confinement, family separation at a time of great stress and unfair treatment without recourse, and the possibility of redress at the appellate court level, I did give in to my command’s manipulation of the system, and agreed not to raise the motions.

Trial counsel submitted an affidavit in response to appellant’s letter. He stated:

2. I was not involved in the Initial Review Officer (IRO) hearing, per ROM 305. I am aware that there were two hearings, the first of which resulted in a decision by the IRO to release the accused from pretrial confinement, and the second of which resulted in the same IRO deciding to retain the accused in pretrial confinement.
3. I recall that the defense felt that there was command influence involved in the IRO hearing process. They also felt that the accused was being held in maximum confinement status unnecessarily. The defense indicated that they might bring motions to this effect.
4. I do not recall there being an unwritten, or sub rosa, agreement that prevented the defense from bringing these motions. As the trial counsel, I discussed with the defense counsel whether the defense would raise these motions, and reported that the Government needed to know this in order to know how to proceed. That did not, however, mean that there would be no pretrial agreement if the defense raised these issues.
[75]*755. I note that a pretrial agreement, in which the Government agreed to take the case to a special court-martial vice a general court-martial in return for the accused’s pleas of guilty, is dated 11 October 95. As of that date, the Government was obliged to fulfill its portion of the pretrial agreement, barring misconduct by the accused. The defense was free to raise the issues it was concerned with without fear of losing the benefits of the agreement. The defense did not raise any such issues.

(Emphasis added.)

Defense counsel submitted an affidavit in response to trial counsel. It said:

I have read Anthony Sherman’s letter of 7 April 1997. I generally agree with the content of the letter with the exception of the fifth sentence of the first paragraph, and any portions of the fourth sentence of the same paragraph to the extent it/they imply that defense counsel promised that certain issues would not be considered to have been “waived” on appeal. Additionally, with regard to the fifth paragraph, I agree with the general assertion of illegal command influence inasmuch as it alleges illegal command influence with regard to Sergeant Plum.
I have read Captain Harper’s affidavit of 21 July 1997 and provide the following statement in response:
Specifically regarding paragraph J: Captain Harper implied that he might not recommend a pretrial agreement if the motions were raised and also that LtCol DeCamp might not enter a pretrial agreement if motions were raised.
Specifically regarding paragraph 5: During the negotiation of the pretrial agreement Captain Harper informed me that a proposed pretrial agreement was contingent upon going to trial on a specified day. When informed of the possibility of the filing of defense motions, Captain Harper stated that filing motions would result in delay of the trial and would be cause for the convening authority to reevaluate the offer and to consider filing additional assault charges. Additionally, his assertion that the pretrial agreement was binding as of the date it was signed is incorrect. The Government may withdraw from a pretrial agreement for any reason up until the time of performance by the accused.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
51 M.J. 73, 1999 CAAF LEXIS 1038, 1999 WL 503900, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-sherman-armfor-1999.