United States v. Tanner

61 M.J. 649, 2005 CCA LEXIS 190, 2005 WL 1473941
CourtNavy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedJune 21, 2005
DocketNMCCA 200301120
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 61 M.J. 649 (United States v. Tanner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Navy-Marine Corps 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. Tanner, 61 M.J. 649, 2005 CCA LEXIS 190, 2005 WL 1473941 (N.M. 2005).

Opinions

HARRIS, Judge:

A military judge sitting as a general court-martial convicted the appellant, in accordance with his pleas, of rape of a child under the age of 16 years, two specifications of forcible sodomy, on divers occasions, of a child under the age of 16 years, and committing indecent acts, on divers occasions, with a child under the age of 16 years. All of the offenses involved the appellant’s 10-year-old daughter. The appellant’s offenses violated Articles 120, 125, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 920, 925, and 934. On 7 May 2002, the military judge sentenced the appellant to confinement for 18 years and a dishonorable discharge. On 23 April 2003, the convening authority approved the adjudged sentence and, in accordance with the terms of a pretrial agreement, suspended confinement in excess of 90 months for 90 months from the date of trial.

We have carefully examined the record of trial, the appellant’s original assignment of error1 and two supplemental assignments of [651]*651error,2 the Government’s answers, and the appellant’s replies.3 We conclude that the findings and the sentence are correct in law and fact, and that no error materially prejudicial to the substantial rights of the appellant was committed. Arts. 59(a) and 66(e), UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. §§ 859(a) and 866(c).

Life Without Eligibility for Parole as an Authorized Punishment

In the appellant’s original assignment of error, submitted under United States v. Grostefon, 12 M.J. 431, 436-37 (C.M.A.1982), he asserts that his individual military counsel and the military judge both improperly advised him that the punishment of life without eligibility for parole was authorized in his case, thereby inducing him to plead guilty. Appellant’s Brief of 12 May 2004 at 2. The appellant avers that, given his material misunderstanding of the maximum punishment that he faced when he decided whether to contest the charges, this court should set aside the findings and sentence. We disagree.

The Constitution vests in Congress the authority “[t]o make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces.” U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 14. Congress, in effect, can legislate the structure of the military justice system. This includes the authority to establish what sentences can be adjudged for specific crimes. See Loving v. United States, 517 U.S. 748, 767, 116 S.Ct. 1737, 135 L.Ed.2d 36 (1996). Accordingly, when Congress adopted Article 120, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 920, it provided the following authorized sentence for the offense of rape: “[Djeath or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.” Art. 120(a), UCMJ. Congress has also delegated to the President the authority to specify, within statutory limits, the maximum punishment for crimes prosecuted by courts-martial. See Loving, 517 U.S. at 769, 116 S.Ct. 1737. At the time of the commission of the appellant’s crimes, the President had prescribed that military personnel convicted of rape under Article 120, UCMJ, could be sentenced to “[djeath or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct[,]” which would necessarily include confinement for life.4 Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (1998 ed.), Part IV, H 45e(l).

In 1997, Congress modified its delegation of authority, providing that for any crime where the President has prescribed confinement for life as a possible sentence, courts-martial automatically have the option of adjudging a sentence of confinement for life without eligibility for parole (LWOP). National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998, Pub.L. No. 105-85, § 581, 111 Stat. 1629, 1759 (1997)(codified as 10 U.S.C. § 856a (2000)). Although the President signed this provision into law on 18 November 1997, he did not amend the Manual for Courts-Martial to incorporate LWOP until 11 April 2002. See United States v. Ronghi, 60 M.J. 83, 83 (C.A.A.F.2004), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 125 S.Ct. 639, 160 L.Ed.2d 481 (2004). Nonetheless, “ ‘absent a clear direction by Congress to the contrary, a law takes effect on the date of its enactment.’ ” United States v. Pritt, 54 M.J. 47, 50 (C.A.A.F.2000)(quoting Gozlon-Peretz v. United States, 498 U.S. 395, 404, 111 S.Ct. 840, 112 L.Ed.2d 919 (1991)). We also note that the 2002 executive order amending the Manual for Courts-Martial expressly recognized LWOP’s availability as an authorized sentence for offenses committed after 18 November 1997. Ronghi, 60 M.J. at 85.

[652]*652The real issue in the appellant’s case is whether LWOP was an authorized court-martial punishment for the crime of rape during the period between the enactment of the LWOP statute and the Manual for Courts-Martial’s 2002 revision. We conclude that when Congress adopted Article 56a, UCMJ, it plainly intended to authorize LWOP as an available sentence for the offense of rape committed after 18 November 1997, whether referred capital or noncapital. Thus, absent some other statutory provision limiting LWOP’s availability, we conclude that it was an authorized sentence when the appellant raped his 10-year-old daughter during or about January 2000. As such, we decline to grant relief.

Evidence in Aggravation: Prior Court-Martial Conviction Set Aside

In the appellant’s first supplemental assignment of error, he asserts that his sentence is invalid because this court set aside a previous general court-martial conviction that was admitted as evidence in aggravation at the general court-martial now before us. The appellant avers that this court should set aside the sentence and order a rehearing. Alternatively, the appellant avers that this court should approve a sentence including only 42 months confinement with credit for the 139 days of pretrial confinement and 472(sic) days of post-trial confinement that he served following his first court-martial before it was set aside. We disagree.

The convening authority approved the appellant’s sentence to confinement from his 20 March 2001 court-martial conviction on 9 January 2002. That approved sentence to confinement was interrupted on 7 May 2002, the date of the appellant’s second court-martial conviction, which also included a sentence to confinement. As such, the appellant served 413 days of post-trial confinement from his first court-martial conviction prior to its interruption by the commencement of his sentence to confinement from his second court-martial conviction.

At his first court-martial, the appellant was a Gas Turbine Systems Technician First Class (E-6).

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Related

United States v. Tanner
63 M.J. 445 (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
61 M.J. 649, 2005 CCA LEXIS 190, 2005 WL 1473941, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-tanner-nmcca-2005.