United States v. Tanksley

54 M.J. 169, 2000 CAAF LEXIS 1060
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Armed Forces
DecidedSeptember 25, 2000
Docket99-0666/NA
StatusPublished
Cited by71 cases

This text of 54 M.J. 169 (United States v. Tanksley) 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. Tanksley, 54 M.J. 169, 2000 CAAF LEXIS 1060 (Ark. 2000).

Opinions

Chief Judge CRAWFORD

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Contrary to his pleas, Captain Tanksley, a Navy doctor, was convicted of violating a lawful general regulation, five specifications of making false official statements, taking indecent liberties with a female under the age of 16, obstructing justice by communicating a threat, and false swearing, in violation of Articles 92, 107, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC §§ 892, 907, and 934. The members sentenced appellant to confinement for 38 months, forfeiture of $3,500 pay per month for 30 months, and dismissal. The convening authority approved the sentence as adjudged but suspended the adjudged forfeitures for a period of 12 months, conditioned on appellant providing them by allotment to his wife. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed. 50 MJ 609 (1999).

On January 18, 2000, we granted review of the following issues:

I
WHETHER THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN FINDING THE EVIDENCE WAS LEGALLY SUFFICIENT TO SUSTAIN A FINDING OF GUILTY TO INDECENT LIBERTIES.
II
WHETHER THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO FIND THAT APPELLANT WAS MATERIALLY PREJUDICED BY THE MEMBERS’ CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE THAT APPELLANT HAD BEEN OFFERED AND REFUSED TO SUBMIT TO A POLYGRAPH EXAMINATION.
III
WHETHER THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO FIND THAT [171]*171APPELLANT WAS DENIED HIS SIXTH AMENDMENT RIGHT TO COUNSEL WHERE THE GOVERNMENT SEIZED A PRIVILEGED DOCUMENT APPELLANT WAS PREPARING FOR HIS ATTORNEY AND USED THAT DOCUMENT TO INVESTIGATE AND PREFER ADDITIONAL CHARGES AGAINST APPELLANT.
IV
WHETHER THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO FIND THAT THE MEMBERS WERE IMPROPERLY INSTRUCTED THAT THEY COULD CONSIDER THE TESTIMONY OF J REGARDING ALLEGED FONDLING THAT HAD OCCURRED 30 YEARS PRIOR AS EVIDENCE OF THE INTENT ELEMENT OF THE INDECENT LIBERTIES CHARGE.

Oral argument was heard in this case on May 2, 2000. Thereafter, appellant filed a motion asking us to reconsider granting review of two issues we previously declined to address. We now grant review of those issues, which are:

V
WHETHER THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO FIND THAT APPELLANT SUFFERED ILLEGAL PRETRIAL PUNISHMENT IN VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 13, UCMJ.
VI
WHETHER, IN DENYING APPELLANT’S WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS, THE LOWER COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION BY RESOLVING NUMEROUS AND SIGNIFICANT FACTUAL MATTERS BASED ONLY UPON ITS REVIEW OF CONTRADICTORY AFFIDAVITS.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1959, appellant married Loni Ruth Tanksley. Together they had four daughters: E (born in 1960); J (born in 1961); M (born in 1968); and H (bom in 1970). Appellant and Loni divorced in 1980 amid allegations of physical and mental abuse, as well as sexual abuse of his daughters. The older girls (E and J) had already fled the home before the divorce.

Appellant subsequently married Kelly, and together they had a daughter, P. In August 1993, appellant, Kelly, and P, now 6 years old, were visiting appellant’s daughters, M and H, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. During the course of this visit, H observed her father in the bathroom with P for a long period of time, ostensibly taking a shower. H saw P towel drying her nude father. H discussed what she had seen with her sister M. Although appellant had never sexually abused M, M knew of the extensive sexual abuse that appellant had allegedly inflicted upon her older sisters prior to their leaving the home in 1976 and 1977.

In a subsequent conversation between M and her sister J, M told J about the visit, about their father still drinking throughout the day, and about the shower episode with P, witnessed by H. This conversation purportedly brought back vivid, emotional memories for J, who had been abused at a young age in the bathtub by appellant. J contacted authorities in Virginia, who started both criminal and social services type investigations.

On July 5, 1994, appellant was relieved of his medical duties at the Naval Air Station, Oceania, and temporarily assigned to the Naval Base in Norfolk. He was given a government office and computer. Athough no one shared appellant’s office, it was not exclusively his to use. On July 12, appellant was typing a document on this computer when he was called away from the office. He neither closed out the document nor turned off the computer. When he left the office, he closed but did not lock the door.

When appellant got to the conference room (the place to which he had been summoned), he was apprehended and taken to pretrial confinement. The duty officer, Lieutenant Commander O’Toole (a judge advocate officer) went to appellant’s office to secure his personal belongings. When Commander [172]*172O’Toole entered the office, he noticed that the computer was on and the document in question was displayed on the screen. Seeing that the document was entitled “Regarding the Charges Now Pending Against Me,” Commander O’Toole printed the document and removed the disk from the computer.

II. SEIZURE OF THE STATEMENT

At trial, appellant objected to the seizure of the document, arguing that he had a reasonable expectation to privacy in his office and that the seizure of the computer disk was illegal under both the Fourth Amendment and Mil.R.Evid. 314 and 316, Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (1995 ed.). Both the military judge and the Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that the seizure of the disk was proper under Mil.R.Evid. 314(d) and 316(d)(3).

Although not raised at trial, appellant alleged before the Court of Criminal Appeals that the seizure of the disk also violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel because the document was being prepared for his attorney and was therefore privileged. The Court of Criminal Appeals found that the document was exculpatory and was not used at trial. The lower court also rejected appellant’s assertions that this document led to the preferral of any charges or the discovery of any otherwise undiscoverable evidence. 50 MJ at 621.

We agree that the document in question was entirely exculpatory. We also find no violation of appellant’s constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, or any abridgement of his right to enjoy the assistance of counsel for his defense.

First, appellant occupied an office in which he had, at best, a reduced expectation of privacy. See Mil.R.Evid 314(d); United States v. Muniz, 23 MJ 201 (CMA 1987); United States v. Weshenfelder, 20 USCMA 416, 43 CMR 256 (1971); see generally O’Connor v. Ortega, 480 U.S. 709, 107 S.Ct. 1492, 94 L.Ed.2d 714 (1987)(holding that pub-lie employees have limited expectation of privacy in the workplace).

More importantly, appellant forfeited any expectation of privacy he might have enjoyed by leaving the document in plain view on a computer screen in an unsecured room. See Mil.R.Evid. 316(d).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 M.J. 169, 2000 CAAF LEXIS 1060, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-tanksley-armfor-2000.