United States v. Williamson

4 C.M.A. 320, 4 USCMA 320, 15 C.M.R. 320, 1954 CMA LEXIS 514, 1954 WL 2295
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedMay 21, 1954
DocketNo. 3898
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 4 C.M.A. 320 (United States v. Williamson) 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. Williamson, 4 C.M.A. 320, 4 USCMA 320, 15 C.M.R. 320, 1954 CMA LEXIS 514, 1954 WL 2295 (cma 1954).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court

GEORGE W. LATIMER, Judge:

Appellant was convicted by a general court-martial of wrongful use of a habit-forming narcotic drug (morphine) in violation of Article 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 50 USC § 728. He was sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures, and confinement at hard labor for two years. The convening authority approved the findings and so much of the sentence as provided for a dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures, and confinement at hard labor for one year. The board of review aifirmed without opinion and we granted accused’s petition for review.

Briefly, the pertinent facts of the case are these: On the evening of April 12, 1953, after having consumed a considerable amount of alcoholic beverage, the accused entered the house of a Japanese National located in Sendai, Japan. During his stay a hypodermic injection was given to him by one of the female occupants of the place or by his companion. The accused’s reaction to the injection was instantaneous and he lapsed into a coma. His condition caused alarm and he was taken by a military ambulance to a hospital where he was examined by a medical officer of the United States Army. While still unconscious from the effects of the drug, a specimen of urine was extracted from his bladder by the use of a catheter. The specimen was analyzed and the presence of morphine in the system was disclosed. The results of the analysis were offered in evidence; no objection to their admission was registered by the accused, and the testimony was admitted. We granted accused’s petition for review on two [322]*322issues, but our conclusions on the first is dispositive of the case and the second becomes immaterial. The issue to be resolved is whether the obtaining of the evidence from the accused by use of a catheter, without warning and without knowledge on his part, constituted a violation of Article 31, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 50 USC § 602, which, for the purpose of this case, we will equate to the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

On three previous occasions we have answered questions involving the privilege against self incrimination which arise out of factual situations different from, but similar to, the one which now confronts us. Specifically, we concluded in United States v. Rosato, 3 USCMA 143, 11 CMR 143; United States v. Eggers, 3 USCMA 191, 11 CMR 191; and United States v. Greer, 3 USCMA 576, 13 CMR 132, that an accused is protected by the provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice from being compelled to give evidence against himself either by word of mouth or by furnishing specimens of his handwriting. In those holdings, we attempted to distinguish the handwriting and verbal utterance situations from the fingerprint, foot-in-footprint, coat and hat fitting cases, on the grounds that the former required active and conscious use of the mental faculties on the part of an accused to complete the. chain of incriminating circumstances, while the latter involved the production of testimony which could be obtained without compelling the accused to use any of his senses to assist in his conviction. Our duty here is to develop further the concepts and place cathe-terization in its proper category. In doing so, we limit ourselves to the scope of the privilege against self incrimination for, as we develop the subject, it will become apparent why we find here neither a violation of military due process nor unreasonable search and seizure. Moreover, we will not concern ourselves with collateral issues such as might be involved in cooperation on the part of the accused or waiver of his privilege.

Determination of the issue is aided by evaluating the conflicting concepts found in the civilian cases which have given thought and consideration to the problem. We first refer to the state cases. In those jurisdictions we find one line of authorities dealing with the extraction of fluids from the human body by scientific means and without permission, which hold that the privilege against self incrimination is not violated as the privilege is limited to testimonial utterances of the defendant, either oral or written. This view is supported by the weight of authority and the later decided cases. Generally speaking, the rationale is founded on the concept that the privilege was created to prohibit a defendant from being compelled to confess his own sins. For example, the court in Commonwealth v. Statti, 166 Pa Super 577, 73 A2d 688, at page 691, states:

“ . . “Unless some attempt is made to secure a communication, written or oral, upon which reliance is to be placed as influencing his consciousness of the facts and the operations of his mind in expressing it, the demand made upon him is not a testimonial one.” 8 Wigmore on Evidence (3d Ed) 375, sec 2265’. (Emphasis ours.) The distinction may rest upon practical grounds, but certainly one lawfully arrested may not refuse to submit to finger printing, nor to a search of his person. So also the constitutional privilege does not allow a defendant to refuse a witness the opportunity of seeing him and hearing his voice, for the purpose of identification. Cf. Johnson v. Commonwealth, 115 Pa 369, 395, 9 A 78. The privilege did not prevent the Commonwealth from requiring some of the defendants to stand in the presence of the jury, as they were identified by a witness in Commonwealth v. Safis et al., 122 Pa Super 333, 186 A 177. Wigmore on Evidence, (3d ed) VIII contains a discussion of the subject and in § 2263 it is stated that historically the object of the privilege was to prohibit ‘the employment of legal process to extract from the person’s own lips an admission of his guilt which will thus take the place of other evidence.’ And Wigmore states the general principle of construction thus: ‘The [323]*323privilege protects a person from any disclosure sought by legal process against him as a witness.’ In other words the protection afforded under the generally accepted rule, is a privilege against testimonial compulsion, and no more. While there is a conflict of authority outside of Pennsylvania as to whether anyone other than the accused may testify as to the result of blood tests, urine tests, or other physical examination of the accused made without his consent, in our opinion the better considered cases hold that the privilege against self-incrimination is not thereby violated.”

In Block v. People, 125 Colo 36, 240 P2d 512, where blood was taken from the accused while unconscious, the Colorado Supreme Court said:

“A study of the history of the development of such a constitutional provision as contained in our Colorado Constitution indicates that the original intent was to prevent a defendant from being forced to give testimonial evidence against himself, and did not contemplate the exclusion of evidence of physical facts relating to the defendant. 8 Wigmore on Evidence (3d ed) p 276, § 2250. This line of demarcation is clearly set forth in Mr. Justice Holmes’ opinion in Holt v. United States, 218 US 245, 31 S Ct 2, 6, 54 L Ed 1021, as follows: ‘Another objection is based upon an extravagant extension of the 5th Amendment. A question arose as to whether a blouse belonged to the prisoner. A witness testified that the prisoner put it on and it fitted him. It is objected that he did this under the same duress that made his statements inadmissible,- and that it should be excluded for the same reasons.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
4 C.M.A. 320, 4 USCMA 320, 15 C.M.R. 320, 1954 CMA LEXIS 514, 1954 WL 2295, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-williamson-cma-1954.