Court Opinion

ID: 9565597
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:24:13.340741+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:46.587640
License: Public Domain

ERICKSON, Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
The majority resolves as a matter of law the question of whether the defendant’s 1976 conviction for rape by a military court qualifies as a felony conviction under the impeachment statute, section 13-90-101, 6 C.R.S. (1973). However, the majority remands the case to the trial court for a determination of whether the conviction *476was constitutionally obtained. Because the defendant has failed to assert any reasons in this court, the court of appeals, or the trial court why the conviction is invalid and no offer of proof was made, I believe a remand is unnecessary and respectfully dissent to part II.C. of the majority opinion.
The defendant’s motion in limine, in which he requested that the trial court determine the admissibility of any impeachment evidence to be used by the prosecution, did not allege any grounds to support a finding that the military conviction was constitutionally infirm. In seeking a ruling on the motion, defense counsel only alluded to the possibility that a military conviction does not satisfy constitutional standards:
I don’t think that a military conviction, which is all they have got, is admissible in this case as a felony because it is not taken under the usual provisions of the Constitution with a jury of his peers and burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Your Honor, what I’m alleging he has the burden of proof of showing this because he’s the one that wants to use this kind of evidence. This is not a constitutional, appropriate conviction to use it against him as a felony. What I’m saying, even though there is good faith that he was convicted of a felony, it would be in violation of due process and equal protection to use that against him.
In his motion for a new trial, the defendant was no more specific. He merely alleged as error the trial court’s refusal to rule on the motion in limine. Furthermore, nowhere in the defendant’s briefs before the court of appeals or this court is there any further specification of facts or law to support the defendant’s allegation that his military conviction was unconstitutionally obtained.
Constitutional safeguards enjoyed by the criminally accused in civilian trials are generally applicable in military courts. United States v. Tempia, 16 C.M.A. 629, 37 C.M.R. 249 (1967); E. Byrne, Military Law 10, 19-20 (3d ed. 1981); H. Moyer, Justice and the Military 238 (1972). With regard to the defendant’s contentions, the Uniform Code of Military Justice (U.C.M.J.), adopted in 1951, provides that the accused is presumed innocent until his guilt is established beyond a reasonable doubt. 10 U.S.C. § 851(c)(1) (1983). Under the U.C.M.J., a military judge presides over the general court martial, and the members of the court martial serve the same function as jurors in civilian courts. See 10 U.S.C. §§ 825-26; H. Moyer, Justice and the Military 466-68 (1972). The defendant in this case has not alleged or established that his military conviction was in fact obtained in violation of his rights under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He has only advanced the vague and amorphous proposition that military convictions cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny in civilian courts. This argument is plainly without merit. Accordingly, I would affirm the court of appeals and would not remand for a further hearing.