United States v. Vazquez

72 M.J. 13, 2013 WL 808839, 2013 CAAF LEXIS 220
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Armed Forces
DecidedMarch 4, 2013
Docket12-5002/AF
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 72 M.J. 13 (United States v. Vazquez) 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. Vazquez, 72 M.J. 13, 2013 WL 808839, 2013 CAAF LEXIS 220 (Ark. 2013).

Opinions

Judge RYAN

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Contrary to his pleas, a panel of officer members sitting as a general court-martial convicted Appellee of one specification of aggravated sexual contact with a child under the age of 12, in violation of Article 120, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. § 920 (2006). The adjudged and approved sentence provided for a dishonorable discharge, confinement for eight years, forfeitures of all pay and allowances, reduction to Airman Basic, and a reprimand.

On March 19, 2012, the United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals (AFCCA) held that the application of Rule for Courts-Martial (R.C.M.) 805(d)(1) to Appellee’s case violated his “right to military due process ..., resulting in a fundamentally unfair trial.” United States v. Vazquez, No. ACM 37563, slip op. at 3 (A.F.Ct.Crim.App. Mar. 19, 2012), superseded by United States v. Vazquez, 71 M.J. 543, 544 (AF.Ct.Crim.App. 2012). Concluding that the error was structural, the AFCCA set aside the findings and sentence and dismissed the charge against Appellee. Id. at 14. On April 27, 2012, the AFCCA denied the Government’s Motion for Reconsideration En Banc, but granted its Motion for Reconsideration before the original panel. United States v. Vazquez, 71 M.J. 543 (A.F.Ct.Crim.App.2012) (order granting review). After reconsideration, the AFCCA released an amended decision in which it explained that it did not base its holding on a structural error analysis, but nonetheless continued to find Appellee’s denial of military due process per se prejudicial without conducting plain error analysis. Vazqu&z, 71 M.J. at 552. On certification under Article 67(a)(2), UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 867(a)(2) (2006), the Judge Advocate General of the Air Force asked this Court to consider the following questions:

I. WHETHER THE AIR FORCE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS [15]*15ERRED BY HOLDING THAT AP-PELLEE WAS NOT AFFORDED A FUNDAMENTALLY FAIR TRIAL, AS GUARANTEED BY MILITARY DUE PROCESS AND THE UCMJ, WHEN TWO REPLACEMENT COURT MEMBERS DETAILED AFTER TRIAL ON THE MERITS HAD BEGUN WERE PRESENTED RECORDED EVIDENCE PREVIOUSLY INTRODUCED BEFORE THE MEMBERS OF THE COURT IN COMPLIANCE WITH ARTICLE 29, UCMJ, AND R.C.M. 805(d)(1);
II. WHETHER THE AIR FORCE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS ERRED BY FAILING TO FIND WAIVER OR BY FAILING TO CONDUCT A PLAIN ERROR ANALYSIS; INSTEAD, THE COURT INCONGRUOUSLY FOUND THE ALLEGED VIOLATION OF APPELLEE’S RIGHT TO MILITARY DUE PROCESS WAS PER SE PREJUDICIAL DESPITE DECLARING THAT THE ERROR WAS NOT STRUCTURAL.

Appellee has not shown that the application of Article 29(b), UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 829(b) (2006), and R.C.M. 805(d)(1) was unconstitutional as applied to him, and the military judge’s decision to proceed in accordance with the procedure set out by Congress in Article 29(b), UCMJ, was not an abuse of discretion. Accordingly, the AFC-CA’s decision is reversed.

I. FACTS

On September 19, 2008, Petty Officer Second Class UG (P02 UG), Appellee’s friend and former roommate, brought his stepdaughter (AM) to Appellee’s house to visit. On September 28, 2008, AM told her mother, Staff Sergeant DG (SSgt DG), that while she was at Appellee’s house, Appellee made her lick his body. SSgt DG reported the allegation, which was investigated by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Appellee elected to be tried by a panel of officer members. At the start of trial, the panel consisted of five members. After the Government’s opening statement, the panel heard testimony from five Government witnesses — AM, P02 UG, Dr. Hollander, Special Agent Ferguson, and Dr. Benedek.1 Prior to the testimony of SSgt DG, the Government’s last witness, Lieutenant (Lt.) Conn, a panel member, informed the military judge that he recognized SSgt DG after seeing her in the witness waiting area. Lt. Conn explained that he was a squadron section commander and rates on SSgt DG’s boss for performance reporting purposes. When Lt. Conn revealed his professional association with SSgt DG, the military judge and defense counsel conducted voir dire, after which the military judge asked if defense counsel wished to challenge Lt. Conn for cause. At that point, the court-martial panel consisted of five members, and the military judge reminded defense counsel that the decision to challenge the member for cause involved “a lot [of] tactical things” because, although the military judge found no evidence of actual bias, he was willing to grant a defense challenge to Lt. Conn for implied bias under the liberal grant mandate. Defense counsel asked for, and received, a recess to confer with Appel-lee before the military judge ruled on the challenge. After a one-hour break, defense counsel stated that the defense wished to maintain the challenge. The military judge sustained defense counsel’s challenge for cause and removed Lt. Conn from the panel.

Because the remaining four members did not constitute a quorum under Article 16, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 816 (2006), the convening authority detailed five new officers, two of whom were selected to join the panel. After the convening authority detailed the new members, the military judge asked defense counsel if there was “any issue an objection [sic] or any issue with regards to the appointment of these members?” Defense counsel answered “No, Sir.”

[16]*16Defense counsel participated in a discussion off the record as to how the trial record would be presented to the new members. When asked if there was any objection, defense counsel declined to object and did not request that any of the witnesses be recalled. Pursuant to the procedure set out in Article 29(b), UCMJ, and R.C.M. 805(d)(1), the military judge had a verbatim transcript prepared, allowed counsel to give opening statements, and then had counsel read the transcripts of testimony of the Government’s first five witnesses to the newly added members. Throughout this process, the four original panel members were absent.

Subsequently, all six panel members heard testimony from SSgt DG, the prosecution’s last witness. The panel then heard defense counsel’s opening statement and the testimony from Appellee and other defense witnesses.

II. AFCCA DECISION

Raising the issue sua sponte, in its original opinion the AFCCA held that the military judge’s application of the procedure set forth in R.C.M. 805(d)(1) to Appellee’s case, rather than declaring a mistrial, was error. Vazquez, No. ACM 37563, slip op. at 14. Specifically, the AFCCA concluded that allowing new members to join the panel after five of the six Government witnesses had testified, and reading a verbatim transcript of that testimony to the newly added members, in lieu of hearing live testimony, violated Appellee’s rights to confrontation, a properly instructed jury, and an impartial panel. Id. at 6-11. The AFCCA further held that defense counsel’s failure to object to this process at trial did not waive Appellee’s constitutional claim of error, id. at 11-12, and that:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
72 M.J. 13, 2013 WL 808839, 2013 CAAF LEXIS 220, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-vazquez-armfor-2013.