United States v. Toy

60 M.J. 598, 2004 CCA LEXIS 158, 2004 WL 1690074
CourtNavy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedJuly 29, 2004
DocketNMCCA 200001418
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 60 M.J. 598 (United States v. Toy) 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. Toy, 60 M.J. 598, 2004 CCA LEXIS 158, 2004 WL 1690074 (N.M. 2004).

Opinion

HARRIS, Judge:

The appellant was tried by a general court-martial composed of officer and enlisted members. Contrary to his pleas, the appellant was convicted of one specification of forcible sodomy with a child between 12 and 16 years old, one specification of sodomy with a child between 12 and 16 years old, and five specifications of committing indecent acts with another (three specifications with a child [600]*600under the age of 16 years), all with the same step-daughter-victim. The appellant’s crimes violated Articles 125 and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 925 and 934. The appellant was sentenced to confinement for 20 years, reduction to pay grade E-l, total forfeiture of pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge. The convening authority approved the adjudged sentence and, in an act of clemency, suspended the adjudged forfeitures for 20 years and waived automatic forfeitures for 6 months.

We have carefully considering the record of trial, the appellant’s three assignments of error, the Government’s response, and the appellant’s reply, in accordance with Articles 59(a) and 66(c), UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. §§ 859(a) and 866(c). First, the appellant asserts that the military judge erred when he found that his prosecution for Specification 1 of Charge II (forcible sodomy of a child between 12 and 16 years of age) and Specification 1 of Charge III (indecent acts with a child between 12 and 16 years of age) were not barred by the statute of limitations. Second, the appellant asserts that the military judge erred by failing to suppress both an audiotape and a videotape pursuant to Military Rule of Evidence 317, Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (1998 ed.). Third, the appellant asserts that the military judge erred by permitting the members to consider the offense of indecent acts with another as a lesser included offense of rape, where the acts in question consisted solely of non-forcible consensual sexual intercourse between two persons of age to consent. We find merit in the appellant’s first assignment of error. We conclude that the statute of limitations has expired as to Specification 1 of Charge II and Specification 1 of Charge III. We shall take corrective action in our decretal paragraph.

Finally, during the course of this court’s completion of review of this case, the appellant petitioned this court for extraordinary relief in the nature of a writ of mandamus seeking release from confinement pending appellate review. We immediately address below the appellant’s petition for extraordinary relief.

Extraordinary Relief

The appellant asserts that the respondent officer exercising general court-martial authority (OEGCMA) jurisdiction over him abused his discretion by failing to act on the appellant’s 29 March 2004 request for release from adjudged confinement pending completion of appellate review. The appellant avers that: (1) he has waited four years for appellate review; (2) the Government has conceded that his most serious convictions must be set aside; and, (3) at a minimum, this court must reassess his sentence. The appellant requests that this court issue a writ of mandamus ordering the OEGCMA to defer the unexecuted portion of the appellant’s confinement until completion of appellate review in his case. We decline to grant relief.

This court has jurisdiction to determine whether it has jurisdiction to entertain a petition for extraordinary relief. See Rule for Courts-Martial 201(b), Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2002 ed.). Further, this court has jurisdiction over the petitioner’s case pursuant to Article 66, UCMJ. Moreover, this court also has authority under the “All Writs Act” to issue all writs necessary or appropriate “in aid of’ its “respective” statutory jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a); Clinton v. Goldsmith, 526 U.S. 529, 119 S.Ct. 1538, 143 L.Ed.2d 720 (1999); see Dettinger v. United States, 7 M.J. 216, 218-19 (C.M.A.1979); see also Ponder v. Stone, 54 M.J. 613, 615 (N.M.Ct.Crim.App.2000), writ-appeal pet. denied, 54 M.J. 380 (C.A.A.F.2000); Aviz v. Carver, 36 M.J. 1026, 1028 (N.M.C.M.R.1993).

The issuance of a writ is “a drastic remedy that should be used only in truly extraordinary situations.” Aviz, 36 M.J. at 1028. The petitioner bears a heavy burden to show “he is clearly and indisputably entitled to the relief as a matter of right.” Ross v. United States, 43 M.J. 770, 771 (N.M.Ct.Crim.App.1995). Further, this court has authority under the All Writs Act to “enter an order deferring service of confinement pending completion of appellate review.” Moore v. Akins, 30 M.J. 249, 253 (C.M.A.1990).

In deciding whether a petition for extraordinary relief for delay in an appeal [601]*601that purportedly violates due process warrants the extraordinary remedy of release from custody, this court must further determine whether the delay so tainted the appellate process as to “affect the constitutional integrity of the appeal itself.” Cody v. Henderson, 936 F.2d 715, 722 (2d Cir.1991)(eiting Simmons v. Reynolds, 898 F.2d 865, 869 (2d Cir.1990)). In Diaz v. The Judge Advocate General of the Navy, 59 M.J. 34, 37-38 (C.A.A.F.2003), the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces instructed this court to exercise its supervisory powers under Article 66, UCMJ, to ensure timely and fair appellate review of courts-martial. Further, our superior court held that “an accused has a right to a timely review of his or her findings and sentence.” Id. at 37; see also United States v. Williams, 55 M.J. 302, 305 (C.A.A.F.2001), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 1169, 122 S.Ct. 1189, 152 L.Ed.2d 129 (2002).

Finally, in determining whether extraordinary relief should be granted, consideration is given to those factors that are designed to protect the post-trial phase: “(1) prevention of oppressive incarceration pending appeal; (2) minimization of anxiety and concern of those convicted awaiting the outcome of their appeals; and (3) limitation of the possibility that a convicted person’s grounds for appeal, as his or her defenses in case of reversal and retrial, might be impaired.” United States v. Smith, 94 F.3d 204, 207 (6th Cir.1996)(quoting Harris v. Champion, 15 F.3d 1538, 1559 (10th Cir.1994)), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 1133, 117 S.Ct. 997, 136 L.Ed.2d 877 (1997).

To prevent servicemembers from serving more confinement than is ultimately approved by the convening authority, Congress invested in the convening authority the discretion to defer execution of a sentence pending his or her action. See Art. 57a, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 M.J. 598, 2004 CCA LEXIS 158, 2004 WL 1690074, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-toy-nmcca-2004.