United States v. Villines

9 M.J. 807, 1980 CMR LEXIS 559
CourtU.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review
DecidedJune 30, 1980
DocketNCM 78 1687
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 9 M.J. 807 (United States v. Villines) 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. Villines, 9 M.J. 807, 1980 CMR LEXIS 559 (usnmcmilrev 1980).

Opinion

BAUM, Senior Judge:

Appellant has assigned the following three errors before this Court:

I
THE MILITARY JUDGE ERRED TO THE PREJUDICE OF THE APPELLANT WHEN HE DENIED THE APPELLANT HIS RIGHT TO REQUEST AN INDIVIDUAL COUNSEL.
II
THE MILITARY JUDGE ERRED WHEN HE DENIED THE APPELLANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS THE CHARGES ON THE GROUNDS OF FORMER JEOPARDY.
III
THE MILITARY JUDGE ERRED TO THE PREJUDICE OF THE APPELLANT WHEN HE REFUSED TO REQUIRE A GRANT OF IMMUNITY FOR A POTENTIAL DEFENSE WITNESS.

I

The first assignment rests on an involved set of facts. By special court-martial appointing order, the convening authority detailed a defense counsel to represent appellant in an upcoming special court-martial. Before trial commenced, appellant, in a written communication to the convening authority, requested an individual military counsel and expressly relieved the officer who had been detailed to represent him, for a perceived conflict of interest. The requested counsel was then provided by an amendment to the appointing order, which substituted him as the detailed counsel. Appellant went to trial with this counsel alone and he represented appellant throughout the proceeding until a mistrial was declared. Thereafter, the convening authority referred the case to trial again and detailed the same counsel to represent appellant. Prior to the second trial appellant submitted a request for another officer as individual military counsel. That officer’s commanding general, after setting forth the specific reasons for his determination, denied the request based on counsel’s unavailability. Appellant did not appeal the denial of his request. Instead, when the trial convened appellant moved for a continuance in order to discuss the matter with the officer he had requested and to decide whether to request still another counsel. The military judge denied a continuance for that purpose and trial proceeded through findings and sentence with the same counsel who represented appellant at the first trial. Appellant asserts that the judge by his ruling denied him either a detailed defense counsel as required by statute or denied him the right to request an individual military counsel, depending on how this Court categorizes defense counsel. We disagree.

If we treat the defense counsel as appellant’s individual military counsel provided in accordance with paragraph 48b, Manual for Courts-Martial, 1969 (Rev.) (MCM), then our decision in United States v. Kilby, 3 M.J. 938 (N.C.M.R. 1977), is controlling with respect to requesting another individual counsel. In Kilby we held that once an appellant has been furnished with individual counsel of his own selection he has no right to request another individual counsel, unless he can show “extraordinary circumstances . . . which in the interest of justice and fairness, would necessitate affording an accused more than one opportunity to have an individual mili[809]*809tary counsel detailed to represent him.”1 Here, no showing of extraordinary circumstances was made by appellant and we find none present. We do not view a mistrial and rereferral of charges to another court, in and of itself, to constitute such extraordinary circumstances as would warrant affording an accused the opportunity to choose another counsel.

Appellant argues, however, that if the counsel who represented him is considered to be his individual military attorney then appellant was not provided a detailed counsel as required by Article 27, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), that is, an attorney who would act as associate counsel pursuant to Article 38(b), UCMJ, if so desired by the accused. With regard to this argument, it is noted that appellant never indicated at trial that he desired the convening authority to detail another attorney who presumably would serve as associate counsel. Instead, appellant made it clear that he sought another military lawyer of his own choosing to act as individual counsel, not a detailed associate counsel. In so doing he appears to have considered his first requested counsel as the detailed counsel. In any event, it is our holding that when counsel of an accused’s own choosing is provided as the Article 27 detailed counsel, as in this case, then the convening authority has no obligation to provide another detailed counsel to act as associate unless the accused so requests. Here, no request of this nature was made to either the convening authority or the military judge. Accordingly, there was no error committed in this regard.

Finally, if we were to characterize counsel in this case as only a detailed counsel and not as appellant’s individual military counsel, we would still find no abridgement of appellant’s right to request an individual military counsel. A request for individual counsel was submitted prior to the second trial and that counsel was determined to be unavailable. Upon review of that determination, applying the standards set forth in United States v. Quinones, 1 M.J. 64 (C.M.A. 1975), we conclude that the finding of unavailability was properly reached. Article 38(b), UCMJ, affords an accused the right to be represented by military counsel of his own selection if reasonably available. Here, that requested counsel was not reasonably available. In a separate opinion in United States v. Furgason, 6 M.J. 844, 848 (N.C.M.R. 1979), I expressed the view that an accused does not have “the unlimited right to keep requesting different counsel until he gets one,” a view which is reaffirmed here. In the instant case, appellant, over the Government’s strenuous opposition, moved for a continuation, not for the purpose of processing another request for counsel or in order to appeal the denial of the request already submitted, but to discuss the denial with requested counsel and, after that, possibly request another counsel. We find that the judge did not abuse his discretion in denying appellant’s request for further delay of the trial to discuss matters with a counsel who was not available to represent him, particularly in light of the Government’s opposition to such a continuance based on logistical problems associated with providing defense witnesses to be present that day. Appellant’s first assignment of error is denied.

II

In his second assignment, appellant asks that the findings and sentence be set aside and that the charges be dismissed on grounds of former jeopardy. At the first trial appellant pled guilty to the Charge and the two specifications thereunder (Charge II and specifications 1 and 2 of the present charges) and not guilty to Additional Charges I and II (Charges I and III of the present charges). Following an inquiry into the providence of the guilty pleas the military judge accepted the pleas of guilty and entered findings of guilty to the charge and the two specifications. Subsequent to that action, but prior to introduction of evidence on the other charges, the judge, on his own initiative, declared a mistrial be[810]*810cause of his determination that he should recuse himself for what he perceived to be a violation of the Canons of Judicial Ethics in communicating with the trial counsel in a social setting concerning a certain aspect of the case.

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Related

United States v. Beatty
25 M.J. 311 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1987)
United States v. Harris
24 M.J. 622 (U.S. Army Court of Military Review, 1987)
United States v. Villines
13 M.J. 46 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
9 M.J. 807, 1980 CMR LEXIS 559, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-villines-usnmcmilrev-1980.