United States v. Starr

23 C.M.A. 584, 1 M.J. 186, 50 C.M.R. 849, 23 USCMA 584, 1975 CMA LEXIS 627
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedOctober 10, 1975
DocketNo. 29,852
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 23 C.M.A. 584 (United States v. Starr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Military 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. Starr, 23 C.M.A. 584, 1 M.J. 186, 50 C.M.R. 849, 23 USCMA 584, 1975 CMA LEXIS 627 (cma 1975).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

Ferguson, Senior Judge:

Appellant was tried and convicted by a general court-martial of two specifications which alleged, respectively, violations of a general regulation by wrongfully possessing and introducing lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) onto a military installation in violation of Article 92, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC § 892.

The facts necessary to an understanding of this case include both trial and appellate events. At trial, the appellant moved to dismiss the charge and specifications, asserting that he had been granted immunity and had been denied a speedy trial. During his testimony in [585]*585support thereof, the appellant admitted that he had possessed the contraband on the alleged date and that it had been found in a search of his person. After this motion was denied by the military judge, the appellant later objected to the introduction into evidence of the contraband in question on the basis that it was obtained as the result of an illegal search and seizure. He further maintained that a pretrial confession was a fruit of this search, and that it, too, was not admissible. Testifying on the issue of probable cause,1 appellant again admitted possessing the contraband drug. Despite the objections, however, both the seized LSD and the confession later were admitted into evidence. Although the record reflects some initial confusion as to the subsequent use on the merits of these judicial admissions of possession made by the appellant, this confusion ultimately was resolved by the military judge when he ruled:

All right ... we understand each other. The accused did testify and his testimony was only considered as to the evidentiary matter and not on the merits of the case.

Appellant’s case was considered twice thereafter on appeal by the US Air Force Court of Military Review. In its original decision, that court determined that the search was illegal, that the appellant’s confession was obtained as a direct result of that illegal search, and that both the fruits of the search and the confession were admitted improperly into evidence. The court, accordingly, set aside the findings of guilty as to the introduction offense, but affirmed the possession conviction on the basis that it was supported by appellant’s judicial admissions and, further, by the testimony of a defense witness called in support of the motion to suppress. United States v Starr, 49 CMR 508 (AFCMR 1974). Adhering to its original decision upon reconsideration, United States v Starr, 50 CMR 544 (AFCMR 1975), the Court of Military Review employed the following reasoning as justification for reaffirming the findings of guilty as to the charged possession:

(a) That the rule of Simmons v United States, 390 US 377 (1968), which precludes use on the merits of an accused’s testimony given during a suppression hearing, was inapplicable to the facts of this case since the rule bars admissions made only to establish standing to contest the search.
(b) That despite the military judge’s declination to consider appellant’s judicial admissions on the merits, this evidence continued to constitute part of the "entire record,” and thus was properly cognizable by the Court of Military Review under Article 66(c), UCMJ, 10 USC § 866(c),2 as a basis to affirm the findings of guilty.
(c) That, notwithstanding either of the foregoing, there existed other competent evidence of record from which the military judge was entitled to find every element of the possession offense beyond a reasonable doubt.

We granted review to consider whether the Court of Military Review erred to the prejudice of this appellant by concluding that it properly could consider appellant’s judicial admissions, which were used by the trial court only for a limited purpose, to affirm the finding of guilty as to the possession offense. For the reasons set forth below, we determine that it did. We reverse and dismiss.

I

In Simmons v United States, 390 US 377 (1968), the United States Supreme Court recognized the dilemma often faced by an accused who desired to attack the validity of a search. In addressing the question of whether an accused’s admission, made in order to establish standing to contest an unlawful search, could later be considered on the issue of guilt, the Supreme Court observed that such an accused was faced with a Hob-[586]*586son’s choice between different provisions of the Bill of Rights: he either must give up what he believed to be a valid Fourth Amendment claim, or he must waive his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in order to present that claim. Finding it "intolerable that one constitutional right should have to be surrendered in order to assert another,” the Supreme Court held:3

[W]hen a defendant testifies in support of a motion to suppress evidence on Fourth Amendment grounds, his testimony may not thereafter be admitted against him at trial on the issue of guilt unless he makes no objection.

While Simmons involved a question of standing to object to an illegal search and seizure, it does not appear that application of the proscription enunciated by the court in the above-quoted language must be limited solely to testimony offered in an attempt to establish standing.4 In any event, we are unable and unwilling to say that appellant, in making the admission in question while testifying in support of his motion to suppress, made it for some purpose other than to establish standing.5 Hence, his admission made pursuant to that motion was inadmissible on the merits. Simmons v United States, supra. This much is clear.

Although some question may remain as to whether the Supreme Court is willing to extend the Simmons rule and rationale to situations in which the right against self-incrimination comes into conflict with a constitutional right protected other than by the Fourth Amendment, specifically, in the case at bar, the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial and the Fifth Amendment right to due process of law, see United States v Kahan, 415 US 239 (1974), we need not now address this matter in light of remaining facets of this case.

II

Even if the military judge was in error when he declined to consider on the merits either of appellant’s judicial admissions contained in his testimony in support of his other motions,6 the Court of Military Review was not free, nevertheless, to use those admissions in order to sustain the conviction. In opining to the contrary, that court sought to distinguish United States v DeLeon, 5 USCMA 747, 19 CMR 43 (1955), in which we ruled:7

If the accused is acquitted, the Government, of course, cannot appeal from rulings by the law officer which erroneously exclude material evidence against him. But, if convicted, the accused is entitled to appellate review of erroneous rulings which may have prejudiced his defense. However, the [587]*587accused’s right is not exclusive. To support the conviction, the Government may also properly challenge erroneous rulings by the law officer. It may do so not for the purpose of obtaining consideration by the appellate tribunal of the excluded evidence,

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Bluebook (online)
23 C.M.A. 584, 1 M.J. 186, 50 C.M.R. 849, 23 USCMA 584, 1975 CMA LEXIS 627, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-starr-cma-1975.