United States v. Wisniewski

19 M.J. 811, 1984 CMR LEXIS 3235
CourtU.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review
DecidedDecember 6, 1984
DocketNMCM 84 2363
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 19 M.J. 811 (United States v. Wisniewski) 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. Wisniewski, 19 M.J. 811, 1984 CMR LEXIS 3235 (usnmcmilrev 1984).

Opinion

MAY, Judge:

Appellant was convicted contrary to his pleas, by general court-martial, military judge alone, of possession of a prohibited drug with intent to distribute and of distribution of that drug in violation of Article 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 934. He was sentenced to a bad conduct discharge, confinement at hard labor for 9 months, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and reduction to pay grade E-l. The convening authority approved only so much of the sentence as provided for a bad conduct discharge, confinement at hard labor for 6 months and 17 days, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and reduction to pay grade E-l.

Appellant now assigns two errors. Our agreement with the first assignment renders unnecessary any addressal of the second assignment:

I
THE MILITARY JUDGE ERRED BY DENYING APPELLANT’S MOTION TO SUPPRESS ALL EVIDENCE AND STATEMENTS OBTAINED AS A RESULT OF AN ILLEGAL SEARCH AND SEIZURE CONDUCTED BY SERGEANT KEANE.

Factual Background

The following factual circumstances are extracted from the trial record:

At approximately 1300 on 16 December 1983, on board Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, a Corporal Seipp, USMC, while delivering the platoon mail, knocked on the door of Sergeant Keane, the senior platoon non-commissioned officer living in the barracks, Building 1464. Corporal Seipp expressed his belief that illegal drug trafficking was occurring in the room of another platoon member, Lance Corporal Lansing. Lansing’s room #414, was located two doors away from Sergeant Keane’s room. The apparent basis of Corporal Seipp’s suspicions was the number and known character of persons observed frequenting Lansing’s room. Following this conversation, Sergeant Keane walked out of his room and observed over a period of approximately two hours, 20-30 persons, all suspected of, or previously involved in, illegal drug involvement, knocking individually on Lansing’s room. Lance Corporal Lansing, however, was on guard duty at the time and his only assigned roommate was on leave. Several of the persons, after receiving no response to their knocks on Lansing’s door, asked Sergeant Keane regarding Lansing’s whereabouts, and were informed of Lansing’s guard duty assignment. All of these persons were apparently not members of the platoon.

At approximately 1630, Sergeant Keane observed two persons known to be assigned outside the platoon, knocking on Lansing’s room. These two persons, known to Sergeant Keane as Lance Corporal Turner and Hospitalman Irish, after receiving no response to their knocks on Lansing’s door, asked Sergeant Keane if he knew the whereabouts of Lansing. Sergeant Keane replied that he did not. Turn[813]*813er and Irish then went to appellant’s room which was located next door, on the far side, to Lansing’s room. Sergeant Keane observed Turner and Irish talking to appellant, then the three persons left the barracks area.

Appellant was a fellow platoon member of Lance Corporal Lansing and both Marines had been in the habit of visiting each other’s room on a frequent, almost daily basis, for almost a year. Appellant had not, however, ever stayed overnight in Lansing’s room, nor did he store any of his personal possessions in the room. Appellant had no possessory interest in any property contained in the room, nor did he have a personal key of his own to Lansing’s door or wall lockers inside the room.

Appellant had, however, during the period he, Irish and Turner were away from the platoon area after Sergeant Keane’s first observation, been importuned by Lansing. Lance Corporal Lansing apparently requested appellant to effect the physical transfer of illegal drugs stored in one of the wall lockers in Lansing’s room to Irish and Turner. Lansing then gave appellant the key to the room door and the key to the wall locker in which the drugs were stored. Appellant’s testimony at trial expressed the belief that he had permissive access to Lansing’s room for the period necessary to effect the drug transfer; that he had the authority during the period of his use of the room to exclude all other persons except Lansing and the other Marine assigned to the room, who at the time was on leave, and that he, the appellant, had the authority to admit other persons to the room, or in his words “... I would not have let the PMO in. But if it was someone that I knew.”

After acceding to Lansing’s request and receiving the keys to both the room door and Lansing’s wall locker, appellant returned to Lansing’s room with Turner and Irish. Sergeant Keane observed the trio enter the room and close the door behind them. Appellant testified that the door was locked and the blinds were drawn during the subsequent transfer of the drugs from inside Lansing’s wall locker to Turner and Irish.

During the transfer process inside the room, Sergeant Keane had initiated further observation efforts. The sergeant testified that he was able to observe the actual transaction through the cord slot in one of the Venetian blind slats, an opening estimated by the sergeant to measure Vs" x %" in dimension. Sergeant Keane testified that he observed appellant open up a wall locker in the room and transfer a white substance from a plastic bag to Irish and Turner. Suspecting a drug transaction, Sergeant Keane sent one of the nearby Marines for the officer of the day and invited several of the other nearby Marines to look into the room through the slot in the blinds. While the testimony of these other Marines confirmed the sighting of several male figures in the room while peering through the slot, none of the other witnesses could determine what, if any, actions were occurring inside the room.

Prior to the arrival of the officer of the day, the platoon sergeant, Staff Sergeant Lenard, arrived on the scene. Sergeant Keane related his observations to Staff Sergeant Lenard. Sergeant Keane then knocked on the door of Lansing’s room. The door was opened by someone inside the room, Irish and Turner attempted to leave but were halted. Staff Sergeant Lenard ordered both to remain inside the room until the arrival of the officer of the day. Appellant asked “what was going on.” Sergeant Keane responded by advising appellant that he had observed appellant engaged in a drug transaction, and that for appellant’s “own benefit” he should surrender the drugs. Appellant’s brief, albeit descriptive response was a short expletive accompanied by a banging of his, the appellant’s, head against the wall locker. The platoon sergeant, Staff Sergeant Lenard then said to appellant, “Ski, give up the drugs.” Appellant responded by pulling out a key from his pocket, opening a wall locker identified as Lansing’s locker and removing a plastic bag containing a sub[814]*814stance later identified as 90 “squares” of lysergic acid diethylamide.

From this pregnant meshing of evidentiary concepts and factual circumstances emerged the charges in this case and a suppression motion entered by appellant. Following presentation of the motion, the military judge denied the motion and made the following findings of fact:

The court does specifically find that Sergeant KEANE was not a law enforcement agent, that he was off duty, in civilian clothes, not a supervisor of nor exercised direct disciplinary powers over WISNIESWKI, IRISH or TURNER, as interpreted by applicable case law.

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Related

United States v. Wisniewski
21 M.J. 370 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
19 M.J. 811, 1984 CMR LEXIS 3235, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-wisniewski-usnmcmilrev-1984.