United States v. Shoemake

17 M.J. 858, 1984 CMR LEXIS 4696
CourtU.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review
DecidedJanuary 31, 1984
DocketNMCM 83 3446
StatusPublished

This text of 17 M.J. 858 (United States v. Shoemake) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Shoemake, 17 M.J. 858, 1984 CMR LEXIS 4696 (usnmcmilrev 1984).

Opinion

BYRNE, Judge:

Aviation Machinist’s Mate Third Class Charles M. Shoemake was tried by special court-martial and convicted, contrary to his pleas, of a number of specifications involving the use, possession, transfer, and sale of amphetamines and marijuana in violation of Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. § 892.

Appellate defense counsel limited his oral presentation to this Court to one assignment of error,1 and we shall limit our discussion to that issue.

A. The Statute

Article 25(c)(1) of the UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 825(c)(1) states, in pertinent part:

Any enlisted member of an armed force on active duty ... is eligible to serve on general and special courts-martial for the trial of any enlisted member of an armed force who may lawfully be brought before such courts for trial, but he shall serve as a member of a court only if .. . the accused personally has requested in writing that enlisted members serve on it.

(Emphasis supplied.)

B. The facts of this case

Petty officer Shoemake’s civilian and detailed military counsel sent a letter, prior to trial, to the convening authority stating: (in pertinent part):

In accordance with reference (a), [Article 25(c)] the accused, through his detailed defense counsel, respectfully requests enlisted personnel to be appointed as members to the subject Special Court-Martial.

This letter was personally signed by both Petty Officer Shoemake’s civilian defense counsel and his detailed military defense counsel. Petty Officer Shoemake did not sign the request.

At page 409 of this 2,582 page record of trial, the desires of the accused regarding enlisted members was confirmed by the following:

MJ: Has the accused made a written request for enlisted members on the court?
TC: He has, your Honor.
MJ: Have that request entered in the record of trial. Petty Officer Shoemake, do you want enlisted members on your panel?
ACC: Yes, your Honor.

Appellate defense counsel rightly concedes, in oral argument, and we so conclude, that Petty Officer Shoemake desired to have enlisted personnel detailed as members of his court-martial.

An enlisted man was detailed, and served as a member of, the court-martial.

C. The issue

Petty officer Shoemake’s appellate counsel has assigned the following error:

APPELLANT’S COURT-MARTIAL WAS WITHOUT JURISDICTION BECAUSE THE WRITTEN REQUEST [860]*860FOR ENLISTED MEMBERS WAS NOT PERSONALLY SIGNED BY THE APPELLANT.

We hold that, under the above facts, the accused’s request met the requirements of Article 25(c)(1) of the UCMJ, and that, even if it did not, there was no prejudice.

D. Historical commentary

United States v. White, 21 U.S.C.M.A. 583, 45 C.M.R. 357 (1972) summarizes the legislative history of Article 25(c)(1) of the UCMJ and its predecessor statute, Article of War 4. That history, White notes, demonstrates that the objective of the words “personally has requested in writing” in Article 25(c)(1) was to make the election “nondelegable” to defense counsel. White, at 361; Hearings before House Armed Services Committee on H.R. 2498, 81st Con'gress, 1st Session, at 1147. But, the reason for this language was to:

... make the accused himself sign that application so he will never then be heard to say that he didn’t want them.
Mr. DeGraffenried. Didn’t authorize his counsel to do it [request enlisted members].
Mr. Smart. That is right.

[Material in brackets added.]

Consequently, the purpose of the legislative requirement was to ensure that the accused desired enlisted members. See United States v. Robertson, 7 M.J. 507, 509 (A.C.M.R.1979), pet. den. 7 M.J. 137 (C.M.A.1979). There is no factual issue in this case as to whether the accused desired and requested enlisted members: he did.

E. White and progeny

In United States v. White, 21 U.S.C.M.A. 583, 45 C.M.R. 357 (1972), the USCMA held that an oral request alone, by the accused’s defense counsel, for enlisted membership, did not comply with Article 25(c)(1) of the UCMJ. USCMA reversed White’s conviction. See also United States v. Thompson, 22 U.S.C.M.A. 3, 46 C.M.R. 3 (1972).

Thereafter, in granting a petition for extraordinary relief, Article 25(c)(1) was violated where “the defense counsel signed the request for enlisted members.” Gallagher v. United States, 22 U.S.C.M.A. 191, 192, 46 C.M.R. 191, 192, n. 1 (1973) (mem.). See also Asher v. United States, 22 U.S.C.M.A. 6, 46 C.M.R. 6 (1972) (mem.) and United States v. Warren, 50 C.M.R. 357 (A.C.M.R.1975).

F. Caveats to White

However, the appellate courts recognized that noncompliance with Article 25(c)(1) did not result in a classical jurisdiction issue.

In United States v. Dauphine, 36 C.M.R. 862 (A.C.M.R.1972), it was held that a reference for trial of a convening order which included enlisted personnel was not void ab initio, even though only the appellant’s counsel signed a written request for enlisted members. United States v. Robertson, supra, held that White does not require a request before enlisted members may be detailed, so long as a timely request for enlisted personnel is submitted. Further, the failure to comply with the statute in a guilty plea case only affects the sentence, not the findings. United States v. Asher, supra, at 7; United States v. Dauphine, supra. The USCMA, now composed of 3 different judges than those who decided White and resolving issues under a substantially revised UCMJ,2 recently mentioned a different tack in approaching this issue. In United States v. Landrum, 3 M.J. 160 (C.M.A.1977) (summary disposition), the Court found prejudicial error where enlisted personnel served as court-martial members where the request for enlisted personnel was unsigned. But, USCMA noted that nowhere “does the record affirmatively reflect that appellant himself desired enlisted personnel, for his counsel announced there was such a request but appellant was not asked if he concurred after he had expressed his understanding of his right to make such a request”. Id.

The USCMA in White heavily relied upon its prior decision in United States v. Dean, 20 U.S.C.M.A. 212, 43 C.M.R. 52 (1970) as [861]*861authority for its conclusions. See United States v. White, supra, at 358, 363. Dean set aside a conviction where the accused only orally requested trial by military judge alone where the UCMJ required such a request to be in writing.

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Related

United States v. Dean
20 C.M.A. 212 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1970)
United States v. White
21 C.M.A. 583 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1972)
United States v. Robertson
7 M.J. 507 (U.S. Army Court of Military Review, 1979)
United States v. Calhoun
14 M.J. 588 (U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
17 M.J. 858, 1984 CMR LEXIS 4696, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-shoemake-usnmcmilrev-1984.