Court Opinion

ID: 9836831
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-02 03:15:11.849652+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:45:19.014527
License: Public Domain

CRAWFORD, Chief Judge
(concurring in part and dissenting in part):
I agree with the Court’s disposition of Issue II. As to Issue I, consistent with my views in United States v. Huffman, 40 MJ 225, 228 (CMA 1994)(Crawford, J., dissenting in part and concurring in the result), and United States v. Combs, 47 MJ 330, 334 (1997)(Crawford, J., dissenting), I would hold that appellant has waived his claim concerning unlawful pretrial punishment by failing to raise the matter before either the magistrate or the military judge.
Even though I would dispose of Issue I by applying waiver, I find that appellant’s failure to complain is “strong evidence” that he was not punished in violation of Article 13. Huffman, supra at 227; see United States v. James, 28 MJ 214 (CMA 1989); United States v. Palmiter, 20 MJ 90, 97 (CMA 1985).
Appellant spent 326 days in pretrial confinement. He complained for the first time in June 1995, nearly 1 year after his court-martial, that he was required to sit at a small wooden desk within his 6-by-8-foot cell for 15% hours per day, or stand “for hours” should he fall asleep at that desk. He was not allowed to talk with other prisoners. He was only permitted to read the Bible or Christian literature by the light of one 40-watt light bulb, but was prohibited from attending church services and Bible studies. He was denied the amenities of sentenced prisoners: access to recreational facilities and equipment; newspapers; television; radio; assistance organizations; and rehabilitation programs.
The majority is correct by concluding that if these allegations are true, appellant would be entitled to relief. However, unlike the majority, I find that the record, logic, and common sense together “compellingly demonstrate” the improbability of the facts alleged by appellant. Cf. United States v. Ginn, 47 MJ 236, 248 (1997).
First, appellant was a 38-year-old Lieutenant Commander who extensively litigated the necessity for his pretrial confinement. Yet, if one is to believe him, appellant failed to mention these “horrific and onerous” pretrial conditions either to the magistrate or the military judge. Second, the conditions which appellant claims he had to endure are strikingly similar to those found to have existed at the Charleston Navy Brig, and which we found to be a violation of Article 13, in United States v. Palmiter, supra. Either the Department of the Navy has decided to flout the authority of this Court and reinstate pretrial confinement conditions that we condemned, or appellant’s recitation of his pretrial confinement conditions is other than reality. I suggest the latter. Accordingly, I would affirm the Court of Criminal Appeals decision.