United States v. Tarver

2 M.J. 1176, 1975 CMR LEXIS 664
CourtU.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review
DecidedDecember 17, 1975
DocketNCM 75 2101
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2 M.J. 1176 (United States v. Tarver) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Tarver, 2 M.J. 1176, 1975 CMR LEXIS 664 (usnmcmilrev 1975).

Opinions

DECISION

CEDARBURG, Chief Judge:

This appellant was tried and convicted of one specification of robbery in violation of Article 122, 10 U.S.C. § 922, of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.1 He was sentenced to confinement at hard labor for four years, total forfeitures, reduction to pay grade E-l and a dishonorable discharge. The convening authority reduced the term of confinement to two years and otherwise approved the sentence.

Appellant predicates his demand that his conviction be set aside and the charges dis[1177]*1177missed upon alleged violations of his rights under Articles 10 and 33 of the Uniform Code. We will grant relief.

A stipulated chronology shows that appellant’s term of pretrial confinement spanned 89 days. By releasing him on the 89th day, the government narrowly avoided the strictures of the 90-day Burton presumption, 21 U.S.C.M.A. 112, 44 C.M.R. 166 (1971). Appellant’s submission of a demand for speedy trial, however, brought into play the second prong of the Burton rule, which subjects any delay in the proceedings thereafter to close scrutiny. See United States v. Johnson, 23 U.S.C.M.A. 397, 50 C.M.R. 279, 1 M.J. 101 (1975). We must therefore closely examine the government’s diligence in bringing this case to trial, recognizing that “a failure to respond to a request for a prompt trial or to order such a trial may justify extraordinary relief.” 21 U.S.C.M.A. at 118, 44 C.M.R. at 192.

The offense of which appellant was convicted occurred on 30 December 1974. Milestones in the government’s progress toward trial which are relevant to our decision are:

30 Dec 74 NIS Agent S_ interviews allegations against appellant, interviews witnesses and victim. Appellant is placed in pretrial confinement.
8 Jan 75 Appellant addresses demand for speedy trial to Commanding Officer 2d Engineer Battalion.
23 Jan 75 Battalion Office Hours held.
25 Jan 75 Chief trial counsel forwards appellant’s speedy trial demand of 8 Jan to Commanding Officer 2d Engineer Battalion.
30 Jan 75 Trial counsel appointed.
5 Feb 75 Commanding Officer 2d Engineer Battalion replies to speedy trial demand.
11 Feb 75 Charges are preferred. Investigating Officer receives charge sheet and appointing order.
28 Feb 75 Article 32 hearing conducted.

The government’s diligence in this case must be measured in light of these facts and circumstances:

(a) Appellant’s early demand for speedy trial, lodged at the outset of his pretrial confinement, remained unanswered for 29 days.
(b) The first evidence of motion by the government, battalion office hours, did not take place until 25 days after the beginning of pretrial confinement, although office hours were ordinarily held within 24 hours of the commencement of confinement. The failure to comply with Article 33 is highly relevant to this period, for Article 33 allows a maximum of eight days after the commencement of confinement for the commanding officer to decide if the case is sufficiently serious to warrant general court-martial and prescribes certain steps that he must take if the case is to be tried in this forum.
(c) One month passed between the alleged offense and the appointment of a trial counsel to familiarize himself with the case and monitor its progress to trial.
(d) The first meaningful movement by the government, preferral of charges and receipt of his appointing order by the Article 32 Investigating Officer, took place 42 days after appellant entered into pretrial confinement and 35 days after his demand for a speedy trial.
(e) Fifty-nine days passed between the start of pretrial confinement and the Article 32 hearing. The existence of the speedy trial demand was never conveyed to the Investigating Officer.

Lieutenant M_, legal officer of the 2d Engineer Battalion, testified that he had not received formal schooling for his assignment. His unawareness of the very existence of Article 33 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice led to noncompliance with that Article, although he asserted that compliance could have been effected had he known of its requirements. He stated that “as a general rule, if an offense is committed during working hours, we usually will [1178]*1178hold office hours on the young man before we confine him in any way,” while office hours were conducted the next day if the offense occurred at night. In this case office hours were held in abeyance pending receipt of the investigative report of the Naval Investigative Service. When the anticipated report had not materialized by the latter part of January in spite of Lieutenant M_’s efforts to expedite its preparation, office hours were finally held on 23 January, at which time the commanding officer of the battalion was in possession of the statement of the victim of the alleged offense. Lieutenant M_ admitted that he had not asked NIS to supply him with the names of any witnesses to the incident in lieu of the formal report. He said:

Normally, sir, the Colonel would not confine a man just on the testimony of a witness. He would have to either have an official document in front of him, or someone like an NIS Agent saying, “Well, this took place and I’m pretty sure that this happened . . . ”

The Article 32 Investigating Officer, Lieutenant S_, testified that he received the charge sheet and appointing order on 11 February. A phone call to NIS revealed that their report had not yet been completed. Because Lieutenant S_ “did not, under the circumstances, know the charges, witnesses, or anything,” he “did not feel that I could continue the investigation until I received a report from NIS.” One week later, on 18 February, he again contacted NIS who told him that the report had been forwarded to him via the chain of command. This report reached him some time before 21 February, a Friday. During the next week, Lieutenant S_called in witnesses for interviews and attempted to schedule the Article 32 hearing:

We were extremely busy during that week; I was working with three lawyers, and I had to work my hearings around their schedules. I attempted several times during the week to hold an Article 32 hearing and I finally, because of the schedules of the lawyers and lack of courtroom space, I finally held a hearing over at the base facilities on Friday afternoon.

This Friday was 28 February, two months after the date of the alleged offense. Lieutenant S-had not received notice of appellant’s speedy trial demand.

Special Agent S_, the Naval Investigative Service Agent responsible for the case, investigated the allegations against appellant and interviewed the witnesses on the date of the incident. He prepared the NIS report in the case. He testified that official business had taken him away from Camp Lejeune from 6 January to 9 January but that by 15 January he had dictated a report of his investigation and left it with his office to be typed and given to the Senior Resident Agent for review and dissemination.

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Bluebook (online)
2 M.J. 1176, 1975 CMR LEXIS 664, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-tarver-usnmcmilrev-1975.