United States v. Spaustat

57 M.J. 256, 2002 CAAF LEXIS 1040, 2002 WL 2008915
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Armed Forces
DecidedAugust 30, 2002
Docket01-0656/AF
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 57 M.J. 256 (United States v. Spaustat) 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. Spaustat, 57 M.J. 256, 2002 CAAF LEXIS 1040, 2002 WL 2008915 (Ark. 2002).

Opinions

Judge GIERKE

delivered the opinion of the Court.

A military judge sitting as a general court-martial convicted appellant, pursuant to his pleas, of a 47-day unauthorized absence, three specifications of violating a lawful general regulation by misusing his government credit card, and two specifications of dishonorably failing to maintain sufficient funds in his checking account, in violation of Articles 86, 92, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC §§ 886, 892, and 934, respectively. The military judge sentenced appellant to a bad-conduct discharge, reduction to the lowest enlisted grade, and confinement for a duration that is disputed in this appeal. The convening authority approved the sentence, and the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed in an unpublished decision.

Before this Court, appellant claims that the military judge illegally increased his sentence after announcing it, and incorrectly computed appellant’s credit for illegal pretrial punishment. The issues arose from the military judge’s attempts to compute how many days of post-trial confinement appellant would actually serve after all credits and deductions were applied to the adjudged sentence. In the course of describing his calculations, the military judge discussed the interrelationship among several factors, including the adjudged sentence, confinement credits, the potential maximum sentence that could be approved, and the amount of time that might remain to be served. During this discussion, the military judge at various times referred to confinement for 10 months, 305 days, 212 days, 202 days, 102 days, 100 days, 50 days, and 40 days.

Appellant asserts that he served more confinement than was adjudged and approved, and he asks that his bad-conduct discharge be set aside because of illegal post-trial confinement.1 For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

At trial, appellant requested relief for illegal pretrial punishment imposed in violation of Article 13, UCMJ, 10 USC § 813. The military judge granted the motion, finding that appellant was improperly denied his right to wear his staff sergeant stripes while in pretrial confinement, and that “his stripes were ripped off, literally in fi’ont of him.” The military judge announced that “a one-for-one credit was awarded towards the adjudged sentence, which has been incorporated into the sentence of this court.” The military judge then announced the sentence, which included confinement for 202 days. The military judge then commented:

[258]*258The accused has served 102 days of pretrial confinement. Using the directives in U.S. v. Allen, [17 MJ 126 (CMA 1984),] the accused will be awarded 102 days of credit towards the approved sentence to confinement. As a practical matter, that leaves 100 days to be served.

Because appellant had pleaded guilty in accordance with a pretrial agreement, the military judge next examined the agreed sentence limitation. He explained the effect of the pretrial agreement to appellant as follows:

In that document it states that, in agreement for your plea of guilty in your case, that no more than eight months of confinement would be approved, if confinement is adjudged. In this case, the Court approved, ten months and gave you credit—in one type of credit for 102 days and additional credit for 102 days, but there was 10 months or 305 days of confinement. As I understand the Appendix, you could have no more than eight months. So, that’s an additional 60 days to be reduced from your sentence. So, the most that the convening authority could approve is about 40 days. And that’s rough, but somewhere in the ballpark of 42 or 43 days of additional confinement, beyond what you’ve already served.

Responding to trial counsel’s concern about his computations, the military judge further explained:

Well, let me—without getting into the actual days, this court basically sentenced the accused to 10 months confinement; gave 102 days of Allen credit; gave an additional 102 days of credit using the theory that there was a violation of Article 13. But when you back it up, there was a sentence to 10 months before the credits were applied. My understanding of the agreement that was entered to [sic], it would be no more than 8 months. It says that no more than 8 months will be approved, not served.
I’m sure that will leave the appellate folks with lots to talk about, but that’s the understanding of this Court. Do you understand what’s just taken place Sergeant Spaustat? I know that it sounds a little confusing. The Court sentenced you to 10 months, but gave you two different types of credit with the result that it would be about 102 days more or less that you would have remaining to be served. But because of your agreement with the convening authority, your sentence will be reduced further by an additional two months.

Trial counsel then pointed out that appellant’s stripes were not removed until he had been in pretrial confinement for ten days, and that the military judge had given appellant too much credit for pretrial punishment. The military judge agreed, saying:

So, that 10 day period will be added back—I will restate my position. He will receive 92 days of credit, not 102 days under the theory that there was a violation of Article 13.

The military judge then “restated” the sentence, this time including confinement for 212 days. The court adjourned on November 30, 1999, with no further discussion of the sentence.

The military judge’s sentence continued to be a matter of concern after the trial. On December 2, 1999, the Chief of Military Justice was asked “to explain the judge’s sentence with regard to confinement to appropriately calculate SSgt Spaustat’s release date.” His explanation was as follows:

The judge sentenced him to 212 days confinement, already taking into account his 92 days credit for illegal pretrial punishment. However, after reviewing the PTA [pretrial agreement], the judge stated that his original sentence prior to subtracting the 92 days for illegal pretrial punishment was 304 days (about 10 months) confinement. Therefore, SSgt Spaustat got an additional 60 days (2 months) off the top for the PTA, which capped the sentence to confinement at 8 months, leaving 244 days. Then he got the 92 days credit for illegal pretrial punishment and the 102 days credit for pretrial confinement, leaving him with 50 days remaining.
[259]*259You would still need to calculate his credit for “good time” served and subtract it from the 50 days. By my calculation he should get about 25 days of good time (5 months x 5 days per month), leaving him with 25 days to serve from the date of his trial on 30 Nov 99. That means SSgt Spaustat will be released on 24 Dec 99. However, you would need to confirm that my “good days” calculation is correct.

In a memorandum dated December 6, 1999, defense counsel agreed with the Chief of Military Justice’s statement of the adjudged sentence to confinement and the confinement credits for illegal pretrial punishment and lawful pretrial confinement. However, he disagreed with the calculation of the “good time” credit. Defense counsel argued that good time credit should be calculated on the full term of adjudged confinement, which, according to the defense counsel, was eight months, before any credits were considered.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 M.J. 256, 2002 CAAF LEXIS 1040, 2002 WL 2008915, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-spaustat-armfor-2002.