Court Opinion

ID: 9964833
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-30 22:02:11.506+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:25:44.358358
License: Public Domain

U NITED S TATES A IR F ORCE
             C OURT OF C RIMINAL APPEALS
                         ________________________

                          No. ACM 40305 (f rev)
                         ________________________

                            UNITED STATES
                                Appellee
                                      v.
                        Michael A. PORTILLOS
                   Staff Sergeant (E-5), U.S. Air Force,
                                Appellant
                         ________________________

        Appeal from the United States Air Force Trial Judiciary
                          Decided 30 April 2024
                         ________________________

Military Judge: Sterling C. Pendleton (trial and remand).
Sentence: Sentence adjudged 24 March 2022 by GCM convened at Avi-
ano Air Base, Italy. Sentence entered by military judge on 29 March
2022 and reentered on 13 December 2023: Bad-conduct discharge, con-
finement for 12 months, and reduction to E-1.
For Appellant: Major David L. Bosner, USAF; Major Samantha P. Gol-
seth, USAF.
For Appellee: Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Alford, USAF; Major Olivia
B. Hoff, USAF; Mary Ellen Payne, Esquire.
Before ANNEXSTAD, GRUEN, and KEARLEY, Appellate Military
Judges.
                         ________________________

    This is an unpublished opinion and, as such, does not serve as
    precedent under AFCCA Rule of Practice and Procedure 30.4
                         ________________________

PER CURIAM:
   A military judge sitting as a general court-martial convicted Appellant, in
accordance with his pleas and pursuant to a plea agreement, of four
                United States v. Portillos, No. ACM 40305 (f rev)

specifications of assault consummated by a battery against his spouse EP, in
violation of Article 128, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C.
§ 928.1 Pursuant to the plea agreement, the Government withdrew and dis-
missed one charge and two specifications of sexual assault in violation of Arti-
cle 120, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 920, and one charge and one specification of inde-
cent viewing in violation of Article 120c, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 920c. The plea
agreement stated that prejudice would attach to the dismissals upon “comple-
tion of appellate review.” After accepting Appellant’s pleas, the military judge
sentenced Appellant to a bad-conduct discharge, confinement for 12 months,
and reduction to the grade of E-1.2 The convening authority took no action on
the findings or sentence, but granted Appellant’s request to defer the reduction
in grade until the date of the decision on action memo and waived automatic
forfeitures for six months. He denied Appellant’s request to defer automatic
forfeitures until entry of judgment.

                       I. BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
    On 14 April 2023, Appellant raised two issues on appeal: (1) whether the
victim’s written unsworn statement contained impermissible content; and (2)
whether Appellant is entitled to new post-trial processing because the conven-
ing authority decided on action nine days after the announcement of sentence
and before Appellant submitted matters pursuant to Rule for Courts-Martial
(R.C.M.) 1106, and decided on action and deferment requests before Appel-
lant’s five days to rebut the victim submission of matters had expired.
    This court agreed with Appellant regarding the convening authority’s early
decision on action and found such action denied Appellant his opportunity to
timely submit matters in clemency. In addition, the convening authority erred
by deciding on action three days before Appellant’s five-day window to rebut
the victim matters had elapsed. This court also found that while Appellant had
not raised the issue, the record of trial was substantially incomplete because it
did not include one of three discs capturing the victim’s interview with the Air
Force Office of Special Investigations. Therefore, on 1 August 2023, the court
returned the record to the Chief Trial Judge, Air Force Trial Judiciary, for cor-
rection under R.C.M. 1112(d), to address the missing disc and to resolve a sub-
stantial issue with the post-trial processing. See United States v. Portillos, No.

1 All references to the UCMJ and Rules for Courts-Martial are to    the Manual for
Courts-Martial, United States (2019 ed.).
2 The military judge sentenced Appellant to 12 months’ confinement for each specifi-

cation of which he was convicted, to run concurrently.

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               United States v. Portillos, No. ACM 40305 (f rev)

ACM 40305, 2023 CCA LEXIS 321, at *5 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. 1 Aug. 2023)
(order).
    On 12 December 2023, the court reporter issued a Certificate of Correction
certifying the corrections had been made. Specifically, the disc containing the
missing portion of the victim’s interview was located, tested for functionality
and accurate contents and then delivered to this court. The post-trial pro-
cessing was redone to allow Appellant his opportunity to submit matters for
the convening authority’s consideration, this time following statutory guide-
lines. A new convening authority Decision on Action memorandum and entry
of judgment were accomplished to reflect the post-trial changes.
    On 4 January 2024, this case was re-docketed with the court. On 22 March
2024, Appellant’s counsel submitted the case for review without additional as-
signments of error, while specifically preserving and maintaining the remain-
ing issue raised in his initial brief dated 14 April 2023—whether the victim’s
written unsworn statement contained impermissible content.
    Appellant asserts that the victim impact statement was improperly written
on a letterhead for Department of the Air Force Trial Judiciary. Furthermore,
he noted that Paragraph 2 of the victim’s statement discusses information re-
garding Appellant’s relationship with EP “before the charged events.” Finally,
Appellant takes issue with all of Paragraph 10, which states, “I don’t want any
other women to have to endure the same pain I have. My hope is that he will
not do this to anyone else again and that he can learn from this. That’s why I
believe he deserves the most amount of punishment.” Trial defense counsel did
not object to the victim’s unsworn statement. The military judge sua sponte
stated he would disregard the first sentence of Paragraph 10.
    Before EP read her statement to the military judge, EP’s counsel provided
trial defense counsel with a working copy of the statement. The military judge
thereafter asked trial defense counsel if they objected to the statement, to
which counsel replied, “No objection, Your Honor.” After EP read her statement
to the military judge, EP’s counsel moved to admit the written statement as
Court Exhibit A. The military judge again asked trial defense counsel if they
had any objection to the court exhibit. Trial defense counsel again responded,
“No objection, Your Honor.”
    Trial defense counsel’s repeated assertion that the Defense had no objection
to Court Exhibit A waived Appellant’s objection on appeal. Cf. United States v.
Andersen, 82 M.J. 543, 546–47 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. 2022) (citations omitted)
(“[W]hen an appellant affirmatively states that he has no objection to the ad-
mission of evidence, the issue is waived and his right to complain on appeal is
extinguished.”). Still, this court retains Article 66(d), UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 866,
authority to address errors raised for the first time on appeal despite waiver of

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               United States v. Portillos, No. ACM 40305 (f rev)

those errors at trial. Although we recognize we have the ability to pierce Ap-
pellant’s waiver, we decline to do so here. See United States v. Chin, 75 M.J.
220, 223 (C.A.A.F. 2016) (citation omitted).

                               II. CONCLUSION
    The findings and sentence as entered are correct in law and fact, and no
error materially prejudicial to the substantial rights of Appellant occurred. Ar-
ticles 59(a) and 66(d), UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. §§ 859(a), 866(d). Manual for Courts-
Martial, United States (2019 ed.). Accordingly, the findings and sentence are
AFFIRMED.

                     FOR THE COURT

                     CAROL K. JOYCE
                     Clerk of the Court

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