United States v. Willis

2 M.J. 937, 1976 CMR LEXIS 790
U.S. Army Court of Military Review·Decided July 20, 1976·No. CM 434285·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

COOK, Judge:

Appellant was tried by a general court-martial consisting of only a military judge. In accord with his pleas, he was convicted of two specifications of robbery in violation of Article 122, Uniform Code of Military Justice (10 U.S.C. § 922).

Once again, it is necessary for us to turn our attention to the United States Court of Military Appeals’ mandate in the post-trial review area as expressed in its opinion of United States v. Goode.1 2The mandate re[938] quires that a copy of the review be served on the accused’s counsel, thus affording him an “opportunity to correct or challenge any matter he deems erroneous, inadequate or misleading, or on which he otherwise wishes to comment.”2 After service of the review, counsel is given a five-day period to make whatever comments he wishes before a waiver principle is invoked. To aid in the orderly processing of the case, the Court required that proof of service, as well as counsel’s corrections or comments, be made a part of the record.3

In the case presently before us, the post-trial review was dated 23 January 1976. Action by the convening authority was taken on the same date. In an effort to establish that the Goode rule was complied with, the record contains a document titled “Receipt for Review of the SJA”. This receipt, signed by trial defense counsel, certifies that a copy of the review in appellant’s case was furnished counsel, and no rebuttal information was to be submitted. The problem lies in the fact that this acknowledgement of service is dated 26 January 1976, three days after the convening authority took action.

Appellate defense counsel assert that service of the review on defense counsel “after the convening authority has taken action defeats the purpose of the Goode mandate and renders such service meaningless.” Counsel for the Government agree that, since action was taken prior to defense counsel’s response, there “has not been full compliance” with Goode. However, the Government argues that since the obvious purpose of Goode is to short-circuit potentially harmful errors before they have a prejudicial impact on the accused, no useful purpose would be served in returning this record for a new review because the existing review does not contain prejudicial error, and furthermore, the trial defense counsel has already indicated that no rebuttal will be submitted.

It is eminently clear that the Government desires, in this regard, that we follow the lead of the Courts of Review of two of our sister services. In United States v. Vielleux, 1 M.J. 811 (A.F.C.M.R. 26 February 1976), the Air Force Court held that in a situation where the review was served on counsel after the convening authority’s action, a test for prejudice was appropriate, and since the review appeared to contain no error, there was no prejudice. Likewise, the Navy Court, in an En Banc decision, United States v. Schooler, 1 M.J. 674, No. 75 1794 (N.C.M.R. 14 October 1975), held that even a complete failure to serve the review on counsel had no prejudicial effect when, in the eyes of the Court, the review contained no error.

We feel these decisions are erroneous. They are both premised on an assumption that appellate courts are as capable in every instance of detecting an error in a post-trial review as is the trial defense counsel. We do not subscribe to such a conclusion. Rather we believe that trial defense counsel, totally immersed as he is in every facet of his case, has the superior vantage point from which to discern misstatements in a post-trial review concerning that case. Furthermore, by promulgating the Goode rule the United States Court of Military Appeals provided the principal champion of the accused with an opportunity to ferret out erroneous matters in the post-trial review. We do not believe we can sanction a deprivation of that opportunity4 on the unverifiable premise that all [939] such errors will be detected on later review.5

Contrary to the expressed position taken by the Navy Court of Review in United States v. Schooler, supra, we read the language of Goode to mean that a failure to permit counsel for the accused the opportunity to comment upon a non-erroneous, adequate and non-misleading review does require remedial action.6 The rule7 clearly indicates that counsel is to be afforded an occasion to comment upon matters in the review other than those he might deem to be “erroneous, inadequate or misleading.” We believe that ultimate phrase “or on which he otherwise wishes to comment” compels such a conclusion.8 Thus in our view counsel for the accused is entitled, for example, to present a summary of the testimony in a manner more favorable to his client than the abbreviated version prepared by the staff judge advocate. Counsel may do so even though the staff judge advocate’s rendition of the testimony is neither erroneous, inadequate nor misleading as a matter of law. If this interpretation of the United States Court of Military Appeals’ language in Goode is correct, then an appellant and his counsel have been deprived of a right of incalculable significance when they are not afforded the opportunity to comment on the review prior to its presentation to the convening authority. A right, the deprivation of which cannot be considered de minimus and curable on appeal by the simple device of the appellate court substituting its judgment on the contents of the post-trial review for that of appellant and his counsel.

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United States v. Willis, 2 M.J. 937, 1976 CMR LEXIS 790 (usarmymilrev 1976).

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