United States v. Sollmann

59 M.J. 831, 2004 CCA LEXIS 76, 2004 WL 637935
CourtUnited States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedMarch 31, 2004
DocketACM 35041
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 59 M.J. 831 (United States v. Sollmann) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Air Force 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. Sollmann, 59 M.J. 831, 2004 CCA LEXIS 76, 2004 WL 637935 (afcca 2004).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

BRESLIN, Senior Judge:

The appellant pled guilty to raping a child under the age of 16 on divers occasions, obstructing justice on divers occasions, and possessing child pornography, in violation of Articles 120 and 134, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. §§ 920, 934. A military judge sitting alone as a general court-martial accepted the appellant’s pleas and sentenced him to a dishonorable discharge, confinement for 10 years, and reduction to E-l. The convening authority approved the adjudged sentence.

The case is before this Court for review under Article 66, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 866. The appellant alleges that his conviction for possessing child pornography is “void,” and that he is entitled to new post-trial processing because the staff judge advocate gave inaccurate advice to the convening authority on deferment of automatic forfeitures. Pursuant to United States v. Grostefon, 12 M.J. 431 (C.M.A.1982), the appellant alleges that he was sentenced for offenses factually dif[832]*832ferent from those to which he pled guilty. We find error, take corrective action, and affirm.

Background

Beginning in 1991, the appellant babysat the victim about every two weeks. At the time, the victim was five years old. The appellant raped the child on these occasions. The offenses continued for several years.

In May 2000, the victim informed a classmate about what happened, who in turn informed authorities. The state police interviewed the appellant but he denied the offenses. The appellant then influenced the victim to recant and she did. The state investigators dropped the case.

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) continued the investigation, however. The victim told AFOSI investigators what occurred. AFOSI agents interviewed the appellant and he eventually confessed to his crimes in a series of five handwritten statements.

Possession of Child Pornography

The specification charging the wrongful possession of child pornography alleged that the appellant did “knowingly and wrongfully possess one or more images of child pornography, which conduct was prejudicial to good order and discipline or of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.” The charge was brought under Article 134, UCMJ, and the specification alleged grounds under both clause 1 and clause 2 of that article. See generally Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, Part IV, 111160(c)(2); 60(e)(3) (2000 ed.).

As part of the providence inquiry required under Article 45, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 845 and Rule for Courts-Martial (R.C.M.) 910(e), the military judge questioned the appellant about his understanding of the charged offense. The military judge advised the appellant of the elements of the charged offense as follows:

number one, that you knowingly possessed a book, magazine, periodical, film, videotape, computer disk, or any other material that contained an image of child pornography at or near Pasadena, Maryland, on or about 2 September 2000; number two, that your possession was wrongful;
and number three, that under the circumstances your conduct was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces or prejudicial to good order and discipline.

The military judge focused upon clause 2 of Article 134, UCMJ, which sanctions “all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.” However, in order to determine whether the charged conduct constituted an offense, the military judge looked at what the parties thought was an analogous offense: 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(A), which prohibits possession of child pornography within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. The military judge defined the term “child pornography” using the definitions in 18 U.S.C. § 2256, including the definitions of child pornography contained in § 2256(8), subsections A through D.

The military judge explored the factual basis for the plea, inquiring about how the appellant obtained the images and his lack of legal justification or excuse for possessing them. The military judge also discussed at length with the appellant whether the images constituted child pornography.

MJ: So, is it fair to say that of the 100 images approximately 20 would actually meet the definition of child pornography and that the individuals depicted were under 18 years of age?
ACC: Yes, Your Honor.
MJ: And of those 20, did each of those images involve minors, meaning somebody under 18 years of age, engaged in some kind of sexual activity as I explained that to you earlier?
ACC: Yes, Your Honor.
MJ: What kind of sexual activity are we talking about here?
ACC: We’re talking about naked children, sir.

The military judge explained at length that the fact that the images were of naked children does not mean it constituted child pornography. The appellant offered that, “the pictures depicted the minors undressed in sexually explicit poses or intimate acts.”

[833]*833The military judge also determined that the appellant understood and agreed that his possession of the images in question was service discrediting under clause 2, Article 134, UCMJ.

MJ: Do you agree that your possession of these images was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces?
ACC: Yes, Your Honor.
MJ: And why do you believe that is so? ACC: Your Honor, if this were to come out to the public, I’d feel that it would lower the esteem of the United States Air Force in the eyes of the public. I’m a representative of the United States Air Force, and I wear this uniform. And by the possession of these images, I think it would lower me and, hence being the Air Force’s representative, lower the Air Force in the eyes of the public.
MJ: Do you feel that the fact that you’re not a young airman, that you’re a more experienced member of the Air Force would also tend to tie the activity with the Air Force generally as opposed to someone who’s just been in the Air Force for, say, six months or so?
ACC: Most definitely, Your Honor.

The military judge accepted the appellant’s plea and imposed the sentence indicated above. The convening authority approved the findings and sentence on 5 March 2002, and forwarded the record of trial for appellate review under Article 66, UCMJ.

On 16 April 2002, the Supreme Court released its opinion in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 122 S.Ct. 1389, 152 L.Ed.2d 403 (2002). The Supreme Court found that some language within 18 U.S.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 M.J. 831, 2004 CCA LEXIS 76, 2004 WL 637935, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-sollmann-afcca-2004.