United States v. Singleton

59 M.J. 618, 2003 CCA LEXIS 264, 2003 WL 22671462
CourtArmy Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedNovember 13, 2003
DocketARMY 20010376
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 59 M.J. 618 (United States v. Singleton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Army Court of Criminal 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. Singleton, 59 M.J. 618, 2003 CCA LEXIS 264, 2003 WL 22671462 (acca 2003).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT ON RECONSIDERATION

HARVEY, Senior Judge:

A military judge sitting as a general court-martial convicted appellant, pursuant to his pleas, of willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer, sodomy upon a child under twelve years of age, and aggravated assault, in violation of Articles 90, 125, and 128, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 890, 925, and 928 [hereinafter UCMJ]. The military judge sentenced appellant to a dishonorable discharge, confinement for eighteen years, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and reduction to Private El. The convening authority, pursuant to a pretrial agreement, reduced the confinement to fourteen years but otherwise approved the remainder of the adjudged sentence. Appellant’s case is before the court for automatic review pursuant to Article 66, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 866.

In an unsworn, unsigned appendix to appellate defense counsel’s brief [hereinafter Grostefon1 submission], appellant described, inter alia, why he believes he was unlawfully punished while in pretrial confinement.2 He [620]*620urged us to order four-for-one credit for the entire 144 days3 he served in pretrial confinement. We invited the parties to submit additional evidence and specified the issue of whether we should order four-for-one credit for illegal pretrial punishment based upon appellant’s unrebutted allegations.4

Appellate government counsel submitted two affidavits from Chief Warrant Officer Two (CW2) Steven Laird, Executive Officer, Camp Lejeune Base Brig (Brig), several Brig maintenance and inspection reports, and a policy memorandum addressing appellant’s allegations. Appellate defense counsel submitted, inter alia, an affidavit from appellant agreeing with some portions, but also contradicting other portions, of CW2 Laird’s first affidavit. Appellate government counsel expressed a preference for a DuBay5 hearing, as opposed to our granting confinement credit as we did in United States v. Fagan, 58 M.J. 534 (Army Ct.Crim.App.), cert. for rev. filed, Dkt. No. 03-5002/AR (C.A.A.F.2003). We ordered a DuBay hearing to resolve the conflicts between appellant’s and CW2 Laird’s affidavits. Appellate government counsel filed a motion requesting reconsideration of our order — asserting that our opinion in Fagan suggested that we “failed to analyze appellant’s allegations under either the first or fourth Ginn6 principle.” In support of this claim, appellate government counsel discussed three eases where our superior court ordered a DuBay hearing because of conflicting affidavits7 and three cases where they determined no DuBay hearing was necessary, despite the filing of affidavits by the government and defense.8

We have reconsidered our order, and will more extensively explain our rationale for ordering a DuBay hearing in appellant’s case.

FACTS

Appellant committed sodomy upon his four-year-old stepdaughter in their quarters' on post. That same day, appellant’s spouse told his company commander of this misconduct. The company commander ordered appellant to move into the barracks and to refrain from having contact with his spouse. Ten days later, appellant went to the housing [621]*621office, lied about losing his house key, and obtained a duplicate key. Appellant then entered his quarters and contacted his spouse, who agreed to drive appellant back to his barracks. A struggle ensued after parking near the barracks. Appellant struck his spouse’s head twice with a beer bottle. The beer bottle broke and appellant’s spouse received a laceration and bruising to her brain. She spent five days in the hospital and suffered for weeks from frequent headaches and dizzy spells. Prior to trial, appellant made two separate, false written statements to law enforcement, as follows: (1) he denied committing sodomy upon his stepdaughter, and (2) he claimed that he accidentally struck his wife with the beer bottle.

At trial, appellant’s trial defense counsel told the military judge that there were no issues regarding Article 13, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 813, pretrial punishment. The military judge did not ask appellant whether he believed he was subjected to unlawful pretrial punishment, nor did appellant volunteer such information. Both appellant and his counsel submitted statements to the convening authority under Rule for Courts-Martial [hereinafter R.C.M.] 1105. However, neither mentioned the conditions now complained of, nor did they ask the convening authority for confinement credit for unlawful pretrial punishment.

DISCUSSION

Article 13, UCMJ, provides:

No person, while being held for trial, may be subjected to punishment or penalty other than arrest or confinement upon the charges pending against him, nor shall the arrest or confinement imposed upon him be any more rigorous than the circumstances required to ensure his presence [at trial], but he may be subjected to minor punishment during that period for infractions of discipline.

Article 13, UCMJ, proscribes purposefully imposing punishment upon an accused before guilt or innocence has been adjudicated or the “infliction of unduly rigorous circumstances during pretrial detention which, in sufficiently egregious circumstances, may give rise to a permissible inference that an accused is being punished, or may be so excessive as to constitute punishment.” United States v. McCarthy, 47 M.J. 162, 165 (C.A.A.F.1997); see Coyle v. Commander, 21st Theater Army Area Command, 47 M.J. 626, 630 (Army Ct.Crim.App.1997). Conditions are not deemed “unduly rigorous” if, under the totality of the circumstances, they are reasonably imposed pursuant to legitimate governmental interests. See McCarthy, 47 M.J. at 168. Constitutional due process requires an adjudication of guilt before punishment. Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). Pretrial confinement becomes unlawful punishment “if a restriction or condition is not reasonably related to a legitimate goal — if it is arbitrary or purposeless — a court permissibly may infer that the purpose of the governmental action is punishment that may not constitutionally be inflicted upon detainees qua detainees.” Id. at 539, 99 S.Ct. 1861.

“The burden is on appellant to establish entitlement to additional sentence credit because of a violation of Article 13.” United States v. Mosby, 56 M.J. 309, 310 (C.A.A.F.2002) (citing R.C.M. 905(c)(2) (2000 ed.)). The issue of whether appellant was subjected to pretrial punishment is a mixed question of law and fact. Id. We conduct a de novo review of the “ultimate question whether an appellant is entitled to credit for a violation of Article 13.” Id.; see McCarthy, 47 M.J. at 165.

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61 M.J. 627 (U S Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals, 2005)
United States v. Singleton
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 M.J. 618, 2003 CCA LEXIS 264, 2003 WL 22671462, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-singleton-acca-2003.