U.S. v. Caldwell, 72 M.J. 137

Military Justice Personnel: Military Judge: Duties and Responsibilities

1. before accepting a guilty plea, the military judge must conduct an inquiry to determine whether there is factual basis for the plea, the accused understands the plea and is entering it voluntarily, and the accused admits each element of the offense

Core Criminal Law Subjects: Crimes: Article 134 - General Article Pre-2019 offenses

1. Article 134, UCMJ, criminalizes all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces and all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces
2. under Article 134, UCMJ, conduct that is prejudicial to good order and discipline is conduct that causes a reasonably direct and palpable injury to good order and discipline; the acts in question must be directly prejudicial to good order and discipline, and not prejudicial only in a remote or indirect sense; conduct of a nature to bring discredit on the armed forces must have a tendency to bring the service into disrepute or it must tend to lower it in the public esteem

Core Criminal Law Subjects: Crimes: Article 134 -- Self-injury without Intent to Avoid Service (para 103a, MCM) Pre-2019 offenses

1. the MCM prescribes two elements for self-injury without the intent to avoid service: (1) that the accused intentionally inflicted injury upon himself or herself; and (2) that, under the circumstances, the conduct of the accused was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces; the MCM further states that the circumstances and extent of the injury are relevant to a determination that the accused’s conduct was prejudicial to good order and discipline, or service-discrediting
2. an attempted suicide may be a sufficient basis for a charge of intentional self-infliction of injury to the prejudice of good order and discipline
3. there was a substantial basis in law and fact for questioning appellant’s guilty plea to committing the offense of self-injury without the intent to avoid service where his plea did not establish that his conduct was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, or of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and thus did not satisfy the elements of the offense; first, the record is clear that appellant engaged in a bona fide suicide attempt, and his conduct was not to the prejudice of good order and discipline where (1) his actions were precipitated by the death of a friend and the prospect of going to the brig, (2) he attempted suicide while alone in his barracks room, and (3) a gunnery sergeant and medically trained corpsman administered first aid to him, as they would have in response to any other injury; second, appellant’s statement during the providence inquiry that his suicide attempt could discredit the service because the public would look less favorably toward the Marine Corps and view his superiors as not doing their jobs did not establish that his conduct was service discrediting; to the contrary, this statement indicates that in appellant’s view it was not his actions that would cause discredit, but the failure of his unit’s leaders that would have a tendency to cause discredit

Core Criminal Law Subjects: Crimes: Art. 134 - Miscellaneous -- Clause 1, Clause 2, or Clause 3 Pre-2019 offenses

1. Article 134, UCMJ, criminalizes all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces and all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces
2. under Article 134, UCMJ, conduct that is prejudicial to good order and discipline is conduct that causes a reasonably direct and palpable injury to good order and discipline; the acts in question must be directly prejudicial to good order and discipline, and not prejudicial only in a remote or indirect sense; conduct of a nature to bring discredit on the armed forces must have a tendency to bring the service into disrepute or it must tend to lower it in the public esteem

Trial Stages: Merits: Guilty Pleas

1. before accepting a guilty plea, the military judge must conduct an inquiry to determine whether there is factual basis for the plea, the accused understands the plea and is entering it voluntarily, and the accused admits each element of the offense
2. a guilty plea will not be rejected unless there is a substantial basis in law and fact for questioning the plea
3. there was a substantial basis in law and fact for questioning appellant’s guilty plea to committing the offense of self-injury without the intent to avoid service where his plea did not establish that his conduct was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, or of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and thus did not satisfy the elements of the offense; first, the record is clear that appellant engaged in a bona fide suicide attempt, and his conduct was not to the prejudice of good order and discipline where (1) his actions were precipitated by the death of a friend and the prospect of going to the brig, (2) he attempted suicide while alone in his barracks room, and (3) a gunnery sergeant and medically trained corpsman administered first aid to him, as they would have in response to any other injury; second, appellant’s statement during the providence inquiry that his suicide attempt could discredit the service because the public would look less favorably toward the Marine Corps and view his superiors as not doing their jobs did not establish that his conduct was service discrediting; to the contrary, this statement indicates that in appellant’s view it was not his actions that would cause discredit, but the failure of his unit’s leaders that would have a tendency to cause discredit

Trial Stages: Appeals: Standards of Review, Burdens, etc.

1. an appellate court reviews a military judge’s decision to accept a guilty plea for an abuse of discretion; it will not reject the plea unless there is a substantial basis in law and fact for questioning the guilty plea