United States v. Ureta

44 M.J. 290, 1996 CAAF LEXIS 32, 1996 WL 494244
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Armed Forces
DecidedAugust 29, 1996
DocketNo. 95-0321; Crim. App. No. 30274
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 44 M.J. 290 (United States v. Ureta) 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. Ureta, 44 M.J. 290, 1996 CAAF LEXIS 32, 1996 WL 494244 (Ark. 1996).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court

GIERKE, Judge:

A general court-martial composed of officer members at Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, convicted appellant, contrary to his pleas, of rape, carnal knowledge, and committing an indecent act upon a female under the age of 16, in violation of Articles 120 and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC §§ 920 and 934, respectively. The approved sentence provided for a bad-conduct discharge, confinement for 10 years, and reduction to the lowest enlisted grade. The Court of Criminal Appeals set aside the conviction of carnal knowledge, reassessed the sentence, and affirmed only so much of the sentence as provided for a bad-conduct discharge, confinement for 7 years, and reduction to the lowest enlisted grade. 41 MJ 571, 581 (1994).

We granted review of the following issues:

I
WHETHER THE MILITARY JUDGE ERRED TO APPELLANT’S PREJUDICE BY ADMITTING THE VIDEOTAPED INTERVIEW OF [K] TAKEN BY SPECIAL AGENT DAVID DICK.
II (Modified)
WHETHER THE MILITARY JUDGE ERRED TO APPELLANT’S SUBSTAN[292]*292TIAL PREJUDICE BY ADMITTING THE TESTIMONY OF DR. STEPHEN BOOS.
III
WHETHER IT WAS IMPROPER TO ALLOW THE PROSECUTOR TO CALL A WITNESS SOLELY TO IMPEACH HIM/HER.
IV
WHETHER IT WAS IMPROPER TO ALLOW EXTRINSIC EVIDENCE OF TESTIMONY OF MRS. CHRISTINA M. URETA AT THE ARTICLE 32(b) INVESTIGATION UNDER THE GUISE OF IMPEACHING MRS. URETA.

We resolve all four issues against appellant.

Factual Background

JH, a friend and schoolmate of appellant’s 13-year-old daughter, K, testified that on the afternoon of March 17, 1992, K told her that appellant “had been messing with her” since she was 9. JH testified that K did not want to go home and that she wanted the “messing” to stop. JH asked K “if she wanted to talk to” JH’s mother, Mrs. H, and K accepted.

On the morning of March 18, Special Agent (SA) David Dick of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) interviewed K for about 30 minutes. Based on K’s complaint that her father was sexually molesting her, the OSI agents took K, accompanied by Mrs. H, to an Air Force Medical Center in Wiesbaden, Germany. At the medical center a pediatrician, Major (Maj) Stephen Boos, MD, examined K. Maj Boos had been notified that “a suspected child sexual abuse” case was being brought to the emergency room. When K arrived, the OSI agents told Maj Boos what K had told them: that K “had been sexually abused but that sexual abuse had involved intercourse but not anal penetration or oral sex.”

Maj Boos asked K whether she wanted Mi’s. H present, and K responded in the affirmative. Maj Boos “told them who I was, Dr. Boos, that I was a pediatrician, let them know that I had heard a little bit of [K’s] story and that I wanted to talk to her and to examine her to see whether any harm had come to her, whether she had caught any infections; but that before I started, to do the best job I needed to hear her story from herself.”

Maj Boos explained his purpose as follows:

Well, we always screen for sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, but our index of suspicion is changed by the events as they occurred. I’m also trying to evaluate to a certain degree whether I feel the patient is telling a credible statement, whether they have the details and experiences, relate the experiences that I would expect from this kind of patient so that I can know whether it’s a likely statement or an unlikely statement. And I want to know what kind of psychological state they’re in, whether they’ve been in a lot of involvement with a person who’s very close to them over a long period of time, which is likely to be more difficult for them, or whether it was a simple single involvement with someone who they’re not really too close to, which is less psychologically traumatic. And I try to make some of these determinations to discuss with the other members of the team.

Maj Boos was asked, “What is the overall purpose of this?” He responded, “It’s to provide medical treatment, including psychological treatment.”

Maj Boos testified that he was aware of “the medical exception to the hearsay rule” and that when there is a possibility of having to testify, he tries “to get as much of what the person that you’re treating says" into the medical records. Maj Boos testified further, however, that most of what he wrote in his notes “is necessary knowledge for her therapist, for treating her.”

Maj Boos testified that he examined K and found “some vaginal changes that were consistent with having been penetrated” and symptoms of a potential sexually-transmitted disease. Asked about his plan of treatment, Maj Boos testified:

[293]*293I screened her for sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. I recommended that she see a gynecologist. I recommended that visit be delayed until after she had had her tests back so that if there were other things to be treated it could be done in one visit and spare her the additional visit but when all the tests were negative I wished her to be seen by a gynecologist where he could verify and evaluate further that papule in her vagina. I felt that she needed to be engaged early in a plan of treatment, psychological treatment, for her what I felt was a full sexual abuse accommodation syndrome at the hands of her father who is a very close person to her and therefore has a greater potential for doing psychological harm and having long-term impact. I recommended that to her counselor and then I recommended that she be placed in foster care because I didn’t think the home was a good place for her to return to at that point.

The defense objected to Maj Boos’ testimony on the ground that his questioning of K was for criminal investigative purposes rather than medical diagnosis and treatment. See Mil.R.Evid. 803(4), Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (1995 ed.). The military judge overruled the objection. Before the members, Maj Boos testified that K told him that appellant had begun touching her when she was 9 years old. Maj Boos asked K, “Normal people touch each other and normal fathers touch normal girls; was it like that?” K responded, “No, it wasn’t, because he had touched her breasts and her butt.” Maj Boos testified further:

I asked her if she had told anyone, and she said that she hadn’t told anyone. And then later on I asked her when it had changed, since I’d already heard some other stories, and she said, around 10 or 11 it had changed. I said, what was different? And I can’t quote her but she said she had begun having sexual intercourse. At first she couldn’t recall that word and she looked to Mrs. [H], but before Mrs. [¶] could answer she recalled the words, “sexual intercourse.” And then, because that’s a school word, a word adults use in talking with children sometimes, I asked her, you know, if her dad had taken his penis out, and she said, yes. And I asked her if he had touched her with it, and she said, yes. I said, “Where?” And she said, “Inside my butt.” And then I asked her if she could explain “inside my butt” a little bit more, and she couldn’t explain it any further than that.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
44 M.J. 290, 1996 CAAF LEXIS 32, 1996 WL 494244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-ureta-armfor-1996.