United States v. Walls

9 M.J. 88, 1980 CMA LEXIS 11702
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedJuly 7, 1980
DocketNo. 34,861; CM 433575
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 9 M.J. 88 (United States v. Walls) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Military 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. Walls, 9 M.J. 88, 1980 CMA LEXIS 11702 (cma 1980).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

COOK, Judge:

In accordance with his pleas, the appellant was convicted by a general court-mar[89]*89tial before a military judge alone, of the possession and sale of heroin, in violation of Article 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 934. He was sentenced to reduction to private (E-l), total forfeitures, confinement at hard, labor for 19 months, and a bad-conduct discharge. Pursuant to the terms of a pretrial agreement, the convening authority reduced the period of confinement to 12 months and approved the findings and remaining sentence. The United States Army Court of Military Review affirmed the findings and sentence as approved by the convening authority. United States v. Walls, 3 M.J. 882 (A.C.M.R. 1977). We granted review to consider whether the appellant was denied a speedy trial and whether a misapprehension at trial of the maximum imposable punishment requires reversal.

The speedy trial issue is raised in the following factual context. Upon inquiry by the military judge, trial defense counsel initially responded that he did not believe a speedy trial motion was “supportable.” However, after findings of guilty were entered and evidence had been submitted during the sentencing phase of the trial, defense counsel asserted that the “defense belatedly would like to raise a speedy trial motion.” A stipulation of fact was subsequently submitted to the military judge. The parties agreed that appellant’s commanding officer maintained the appellant in a full-duty status, but withdrew his pass privileges on December 1, 1974, which required the appellant to obtain permission whenever he wished to leave Kelley Barracks Kaserne, Darmstadt, Federal Republic of Germany. The Kaserne contained a service club, post-exchange, snack bar, gym, chapel, and an enlisted men’s club.

Charges were prepared on January 23, 1975, but were not preferred until February 6 to permit the authorities to ascertain if the informant involved in the case would testify. An Article 32 hearing1 was scheduled for March 5 but was delayed for 7 days at the request of the defense. The Article 32 report was completed on March 24, and the parties agreed at trial, that the defense was responsible for an additional 14-day delay prior to referral of charges on April 10; trial began on May 9. The appellant testified that he had been able to leave the military installation on several occasions to visit his defense counsel and to accompany his military unit on several field exercises. He also stated that he had not requested a pass prior to the commencement of his trial.

Although the parties stipulated at trial that the defense was accountable for 21 days of the delay, appellate defense counsel now asks that the Government be charged with the 14-day period. Under the circumstances presented, we reject the invitation to disregard the stipulation of fact limiting the total time of the government’s accountability to 139 days. See para. 154b (1), Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1969 (Revised edition); United States v. Gerlach, 16 U.S.C.M.A. 383, 37 C.M.R. 3 (1966). The military judge was critical of the delay prior to preferral of the charges, which the Government attributed to a desire to obtain a laboratory report, but held the case was “within acceptable limits.”

Relying on United States v. Powell, 2 M.J. 6 (C.M.A.1976), appellant asserts that the withdrawal of his pass privileges by his commanding officer constituted a restriction of such severity as to activate the Burton2 presumption of prejudicial delay. In United States v. Nelson, 5 M.J. 189 (C.M.A.1978), the principal opinion explained that Powell involved restraints equivalent to arrest, which is the form of limitation on movement specified by Article 10.3 As the author judge of Powell, I filed a separate opinion in United States v. Nelson, supra at 191, expressing my disagreement with this interpretation with the following comments:

[90]*90My understanding of United States v. Powell ... is different from that of the majority. I do not regard it as “implicitly found[ed]” on an assumption that restriction to a military post is equivalent to pretrial arrest. Restriction is a lesser form of restraint than arrest. United States v. Smith, 21 U.S.C.M.A. 231, 45 C.M.R. 5 (1972); United States v. Haynes, 15 U.S.C.M.A. 122, 35 C.M.R. 94 (1964); see para. 20b, Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1969 (Revised edition). The characterization of a particular restraint by the officer imposing it does not preclude a determination by a court of its actual legal nature. United States v. Weisenmuller, 17 U.S.C.M.A. 636, 38 C.M.R. 434 (1968); United States v. Smith, 17 U.S.C.M.A. 427, 38 C.M.R. 225 (1968); United States v. Williams, 16 U.S.C.M.A. 589, 37 C.M.R. 209 (1967). The two forms of restraint, arrest and restriction, are not per se equivalent for the purpose of assessing the applicability of Article 10.

I further asserted that Powell, unlike Nelson, involved a specific finding of prejudice.

We are persuaded that the degree of restraint imposed in the present case by the withdrawal of appellant’s pass privileges is insufficient to constitute an arrest and specifically reject the implication in Nelson that a withdrawal of a pass alone is an arrest within the meaning of Article 10, UCMJ. Since the present case does not involve imposition of restraint, as a requirement of the restriction, sufficient to constitute the equivalent of arrest or confinement, United States v. Schilf, 1 M.J. 251 (C.M.A.1976), which would invoke the presumption established in Burton, we must examine the record for specific prejudice. Appellate defense counsel assert that the expiration of appellant’s term of enlistment prior to trial demonstrates that he was prejudiced. Standing alone, that circumstance does not evidence prejudice. United States v. Amundson, 23 U.S.C.M.A. 308, 49 C.M.R. 598 (1975). Absent a presumption of prejudice, we conclude that appellant was accorded a speedy trial.

We turn now to the issue which questions the providence of appellant’s pleas of guilty. During the providency inquiry, appellant was advised that the maximum imposable confinement was 20 years. The parties at trial treated the offenses as separate for punishment purposes. However, the Court of Military Review held that, under the circumstances, the “offenses were multiplicious” and the correct maximum imposable confinement was only 10 years. United States v. Walls, supra at 884. We assume without deciding, for purposes of this appeal, that the Court of Military Review was correct. The court enumerated the following factors for evaluating the impact of the erroneous advice on appellant’s decision to enter pleas of guilty:

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9 M.J. 88, 1980 CMA LEXIS 11702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-walls-cma-1980.