UNITED STATES ARMY COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS

Before

ALDYKIEWICZ, SALUSSOLIA, and FLEMING

Appellate Military Judges

UNITED STATES, Appellee

v.

Specialist NATHANIEL MARTIN JR.

United States Army, Appellant

ARMY 20180495

Headquarters, 7th Infantry Division

Lanny J. Acosta, Jr. and Jennifer B. Green, Military Judges

Colonel Russell N. Parson, Staff Judge Advocate

For Appellant: Lieutenant Colonel Tiffany D. Pond, JA; Major Jack D. Einhorn, JA; 

Captain Steven J. Dray, JA (on brief). 

For Appellee: Colonel Steven P. Haight, JA; Lieutenant Colonel Wayne H. 

Williams, JA; Major Dustin B. Myrie, JA; Major Anne Savin, JA (on brief).

29 April 2020

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SUMMARY DISPOSITION

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This opinion is issued as an unpublished opinion and, as such, does not serve as precedent.

Per Curiam:

Appellant stole over $36,000 from the Army, in the form of housing and 

family separation allowances. ∗ To get this money, appellant repeatedly told the 

Army that he was married, when, in reality, he was divorced. 

 ∗A panel with enlisted representation sitting as a special court-martial convicted 

appellant, contrary to his pleas, of three specifications of larceny of military 

property of a value greater than $500, and six specifications of false official 

statement, in violation of Articles 121 and 107, 10 U.S.C. §§ 921, 907, Uniform 

Code of Military Justice [UCMJ] (2016). The convening authority approved the 

adjudged sentence of reduction to the grade of E-1, confinement for 45 days, and a 

bad-conduct discharge. 
MARTIN—ARMY 20180495

2

We review appellant’s case under Article 66, UCMJ. Appellant contends the 

government’s evidence was factually insufficient to support his larceny convictions, 

and his six separate convictions of false official statement represent an unreasonable 

multiplication of charges (UMC). We affirm but write briefly to explain that 

appellant’s UMC claim misapprehends the purpose and intent of Article 107. 

Appellant’s UMC claim never gets off the ground. Appellant contends that 

because the “criminality behind” his Article 107 convictions was not the statements 

themselves, but rather the fact that appellant made the statements “in order to steal 

money from the government,” his separate Article 107 convictions represented an 

unreasonable multiplication of charges. 

This argument demonstrates a basic misunderstanding of Article 107. The 

“criminality behind” appellant’s false official statements was the falsehood of those 

statements. An Article 107 conviction does not depend on the false statement 

having been made to effectuate an underlying crime; each false official statement is 

a free-standing crime in-and-of itself, notwithstanding the speaker’s underlying 

motivation. See, e.g., United States v. Solis, 46 M.J. 31, 33-34 (C.A.A.F. 1997); see 

also United States v. Spicer, 71 M.J. 470, 474 (C.A.A.F. 2013) (our superior court 

explaining the purpose of Article 107 is to “protect the authorized functions of the 

military from the perversion which might result from the deceptive practices” 

embodied by false statements).

The harm of false official statements is magnified in the military, where 

candor and accuracy in reporting is critical. As our superior court observed, 

Military missions, whether in combat, in peacetime 

operations, or in training, are characterized by stress, 

tension, danger, and the need for rapid decisions based 

upon accurate information. The habits and traits of 

character developed in peace can make the difference 

between success or failure in war. Members of the armed 

forces are expected to give truthful answers to official 

inquiries, whether in garrison or in the field, in peace or in 

war. When they fail to meet that standard, Article 107 is 

available to ensure compliance.

Solis, 46 M.J. at 34. 

Thus, appellant’s separate convictions for false statements made in order to 

steal money from the Army do not represent an unreasonable multiplication of 

charges.