Court Opinion

ID: 9836817
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-02 03:15:09.312116+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:45:18.987668
License: Public Domain

GIERKE, Judge,
with whom
EFFRON, Judge, joins (concurring in part and dissenting in part):
I agree with the majority’s resolution of the first and third issues. With respect to the second issue, I agree with the majority that any error in failing to redact appellant’s confession was harmless with respect to findings. I part company with the majority with respect to the unredacted confession’s impact on the sentence.
Although the military judge limited the members’ consideration of the uncharged misconduct in his instructions on findings, he did not provide any limiting instructions on sentence. Instead, he instructed the members that they were “required to consider not only the evidence adduced at the sentencing hearing, but also the evidence that was presented during the trial on the merits and so that would include all the exhibits.” The military judge then directed the members’ attention specifically to “Prosecution Exhibit 1, the statement of the accused to NIS and Prosecution Exhibit 2, the knife, and Prosecution Exhibit 3, the right side of the accused’s service record book.” In short, the military judge directed the members to consider the inadmissible evidence of uncharged pre-service conduct.
Appellant received a lengthy sentence to confinement. It is reasonable to presume the members followed the instructions of the military judge and considered and weighed all the evidence on sentencing, including the inadmissible portions of the unredacted statement. Thus, I am not satisfied that the inadmissible portions of the unredacted statement did not affect the sentence. I would remand the case to the Court of Criminal Appeals for sentence reassessment.