United States v. Williams

27 M.J. 710, 1988 CMR LEXIS 928, 1988 WL 128356
U.S. Army Court of Military Review·Decided November 30, 1988·No. ACMR 8700524, ACMR 8702646·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

KANE, Judge:

The United States Court of Military Appeals has remanded many cases to this court for consideration en banc of issues “concerning the interpretation, application, and constitutionality” of United States Forces Korea Regulation 27-5, 25 October 1983 [hereinafter USFK Reg. 27-5].1 See, e.g., United States v. Simonetta, 26 M.J. 169 (C.M.A.1988) (summary disposition). This court has previously considered the lawfulness and constitutionality of the regulatory provision at issue and held that “[t]he control of black market activities [is] an appropriate subject of governmental concern and the regulation [is] a valid exercise of that legitimate interest.” United States v. Lindsay, 11 M.J. 550 (A.C.M.R.), petition denied, 11 M.J. 361 (C.M.A.1981). See also United States v. Battle, 20 M.J. 827 (A.C.M.R.), petition denied, 21 M.J. 317 (C.M.A.1985). The constitutional implications of the regulation have, however, been persistently raised in subsequent cases. The United States Court of Military Appeals granted petition on and “decided” the issue in United States v. Lee, 25 M.J. 457 (C.M.A.1988).

The plurality opinion in Lee does not, however, resolve the constitutional issues implicitly raised by such a regulatory disclosure requirement. Judge Sullivan declined to address the issue of constitutionality but disposed of the case on the more narrow ground that, because Lee was a “suspect” at the time he was requested to make the disclosure and was not advised of his rights, the regulation was unconstitutional “as applied” insofar as it operated to “subvert” and “evade” the “constitutional and statutory [Article 31(b), Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 831(b)] rights of a person suspected of a crime.” United States v. Lee, 25 M.J. at 459-61. [715] In a concurring opinion, Chief Judge Everett opined that USFK Reg. 27-5 “cannot be made the basis” for prosecution as a violation of Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 892 “[u]nder the fifth amendment and Article 31 of the Uniform Code.” United States v. Lee, 25 M.J. at 465 (Everett, C.J., concurring). Agreeing that a violation of Lee’s Article 31, UCMJ, rights had occurred, Judge Cox posited that the regulation is constitutional because it only requires disclosure of “lawful” dispositions and therefore does not elicit speech or action susceptible of incrimination. United States v. Lee, 25 M.J. at 466 (Cox, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

Subsequent to this decision, the Court of Military Appeals has by summary disposition set aside the findings in similar cases where pleas of not guilty were entered and has returned those cases to The Judge Advocate General of the Army with authorization to order a rehearing. See, e.g., United States v. Jeter, 26 M.J. 217 (C.M.A.1988) (summary disposition). In those cases where guilty pleas were entered, the court has remanded the cases to this court for reconsideration. See, e.g., United States v. Simonetta, supra.

In our opinion today, we reconsider the interpretation, application, and constitutionality of United States Forces Korea Regulation 27-5.

UNITED STATES V. WILLIAMS

Williams was tried by a military judge sitting as a special court-martial. Pursuant to his pleas, he was convicted of violating a lawful regulation, USFK Reg. 27-5, by failing to account for controlled items, violating a lawful regulation, USFK Reg. 27-5, by wrongfully purchasing controlled items in excess of authorized limits, and making a false official statement under oath, violations of Articles 92 and 134, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. §§ 892 and 934 (1982) [hereinafter UCMJ]. The convening authority approved his sentence to a bad-conduct discharge, confinement for 45 days, and reduction to Private El. We affirmed the appellant’s conviction and sentence. United States v. Williams, ACMR 8700524 (A.C.M.R. 15 Sep. 1987) (unpub.). On 4 March 1988, the United States Court of Military Appeals remanded the case to this court for further review. United States v. Williams, 26 M.J. 170 (C.M.A.1988) (summary disposition).

Williams and the government stipulated that, on 6 September 1986, Williams was requested by his company commander to show proper disposition of five video cassette recorders, two sets of speakers, one compact disc player, one television, one stereo music system, one turntable, one tape deck, and one receiver as required by USFK Reg. 27-5; he did not do so. At trial, Williams did not litigate the constitutionality of the regulatory disclosure requirement as applied to him. On appeal, he now contends for the first time that the disclosure requirement of USFK Reg. 27-5 is unconstitutional per se in violation of the fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination, that the disclosure requirement contravenes Article 31, UCMJ, and that the military judge erred in accepting his plea of guilty “in the face of plain violations of appellant’s fifth amendment right by law enforcement personnel.”

On 26 August 1988, this court ordered en banc consideration of the case in order to decide the following issues:

I
IS THE DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT OF USFK REG. 27-5 CONSTITUTIONAL?
II
HAS THE APPELLANT ASSERTED A VALID CLAIM OF PRIVILEGE?
III
IS THE APPELLANT’S CLAIM OF PRIVILEGE TIMELY?

Our disposition of these issues is set forth below.

[716] I

IS THE DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT OF USFK REG. 27-5 CONSTITUTIONAL?

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