U.S. v. Reyes, 63 M.J. 265

Trial Stages: Appeals: Harmless / Prejudicial Error

1. the improper admission of extraneous material during the sentencing phase of appellant’s trial, to include pictures that the military judge had earlier determined were inadmissible and appellant’s pretrial offer to plead guilty to charges on which the members had just returned a verdict of acquittal, and the military judge’s erroneous instruction on the maximum punitive discharge that could be imposed by the members, had a prejudicial impact on sentencing

Trial Stages: Appeals: Preservation of Error / Plain Error

1. under a plain error analysis, appellant must show that there was an error, that the error was plain or obvious, and that the error materially prejudiced a substantial right
2. in this case, appellant demonstrated that the sentencing errors materially prejudiced a substantial right, satisfying the third prong of the plain error test; the improper admission of extraneous material during the sentencing phase of appellant’s trial, to include pictures that the military judge had earlier determined were inadmissible and appellant’s pretrial offer to plead guilty to charges on which the members had just returned a verdict of acquittal, and the military judge’s erroneous instruction on the maximum punitive discharge that could be imposed by the members, had a prejudicial impact on sentencing; the combination of the erroneous admission of extraneous information and the instructional error resulted in a substantial risk that the members were misinformed both as to the evidence that they could consider and the range of punishments that they could impose; in view of the relatively brief period of restriction adjudged and the absence of confinement, a punitive discharge was not a foregone conclusion; in that context, and in light of the cumulative impact of the errors during sentencing, an appellate court cannot be confident that the errors did not substantially sway the members in their decision to adjudge a punitive discharge in appellant’s case