United States v. Graner , 69 M.J. 104 ( 2010 )


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  •                          UNITED STATES, Appellee
    v.
    Charles A. Graner Jr., Specialist
    U.S. Army, Appellant
    No. 09-0432
    Crim. App. No. 20050054
    United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
    Argued May 3, 2010
    Decided June 25, 2010
    STUCKY, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ERDMANN
    and RYAN, JJ., joined. EFFRON, C.J., filed a separate opinion
    concurring in part and in the result. BAKER, J., filed a
    separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.
    Counsel
    For Appellant: Charles W. Gittins, Esq. (argued); Captain
    Michael E. Korte (on brief).
    For Appellee: Captain Chad M. Fisher (argued); Colonel Norman
    F. J. Allen III, Lieutenant Colonel Martha L. Foss, and Major
    Sara M. Root (on brief); Captain Philip M. Staten.
    Military Judge:    James L. Pohl
    THIS OPINION IS SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE FINAL PUBLICATION.
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    Judge STUCKY delivered the opinion of the Court.
    We granted review in this Abu Ghraib case to determine
    whether the military judge abused his discretion in (1) refusing
    to compel the Government to produce certain memoranda requested
    by the defense; (2) excluding the testimony of, and an e-mail
    from, Major Ponce; and (3) limiting the testimony of a defense
    expert witness.   We hold that the military judge did not abuse
    his discretion in any of these decisions and affirm the judgment
    of the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA).1
    I.
    A general court-martial composed of officer and enlisted
    members convicted Appellant, contrary to his pleas, of two
    specifications of conspiring to commit maltreatment, one
    specification of dereliction of duty for failing to protect
    detainees under his charge from abuse, four specifications of
    maltreating detainees, assault with a means likely to produce
    death or grievous bodily harm, assault consummated by battery,
    and committing an indecent act, in violation of Articles 81, 92,
    1
    Appellant and the Government have also submitted three
    outstanding motions related to this case. “The Court will
    normally not consider any facts outside of the record
    established at the trial and the Court of Criminal Appeals.”
    C.A.A.F. R. 30A(a). While we may remand for further factfinding
    if an issue concerning an unresolved fact affects the Court’s
    resolution of the case, C.A.A.F. R. 30A(c), none of the
    documents that either party seeks to submit into the record are
    necessary to resolve the issues of this case. As such, all
    three motions are denied.
    2
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    93, 128, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 
    10 U.S.C. §§ 881
    , 892, 893, 928, 934 (2000).   The panel sentenced
    Appellant to a dishonorable discharge, confinement for ten
    years, reduction to E-1, and forfeiture of all pay and
    allowances.   The convening authority approved the findings and
    sentence.   The CCA summarily affirmed.   United States v. Graner,
    No. 20050054 (A. Ct. Crim. App. Feb. 9, 2009).
    II.
    On November 7, 2003, Appellant exploited his position as a
    military policeman at Abu Ghraib, an American-operated detainee
    facility in Iraq, in order to abuse and demean Iraqi detainees.
    Appellant’s actions that day included:    ripping the pants off a
    detainee and having Specialist Sabrina Harman write “I’m a
    rapeist [sic]” on the detainee’s leg, then punching the detainee
    in the temple so hard that the detainee was knocked unconscious;
    posing in a picture with a detainee where Appellant held the
    detainee’s head in his hands while Appellant’s other hand was
    cocked in a fist near the detainee’s head, even though
    photography was prohibited at that section of the facility;
    helping to force the unwilling detainees into a naked human
    pyramid and then posing for a picture with the pyramid of naked
    Iraqi detainees; taking a picture of a detainee being forced to
    masturbate while Private First Class (PFC) Lynndie England
    smiled, pointed at the detainee’s genitals, and gave a “thumbs-
    3
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    up” sign; placing a detainee in a position so that the
    detainee’s face was directly in front of the genitals of another
    detainee to simulate fellatio, and then photographing them; and
    wrapping a tether around a detainee’s neck, handing the tether
    to PFC England, and then taking a picture of PFC England and the
    tethered detainee.
    The defense theory of the case was that Appellant was
    complying with a general command climate of humiliating
    detainees in the belief that humiliation would make them more
    likely to reveal information of intelligence value, and that
    individual military policemen had wide discretion in
    implementing this agenda.   Several defense witnesses testified
    that the detainees were routinely naked, that their sleep was
    regulated and disturbed, that their food was limited, and that
    their hands were sometimes handcuffed to cell doors.   Defense
    witnesses also testified that they had received vague orders to
    soften up detainees, that intelligence personnel did not care
    what was done to detainees, and that intelligence personnel
    supported more aggressive use of force on detainees.
    III.
    A.
    On June 12, 2004, the defense requested that the Government
    provide
    4
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    a copy of the Department of Defense report detailing
    the legal obligations of the United States government
    to refrain from using torture as an interrogation
    technique and the legal liabilities of government
    agents who do use such methods. This report was
    produced on or about 6 March 2003 by a DoD working
    group. . . . This report would be relevant to the
    defense’s case because the report constitutes some
    evidence of the duties owed to a detainee (viz. in the
    context of a dereliction of duty charge) by a
    government agent and of whether these duties change if
    the agent is ordered to engage in conduct that
    constitutes maltreatment.
    Emphasis deleted.
    The Government denied the request, asserting that the DoD
    report was not relevant because Appellant’s actions were not in
    furtherance of an official interrogation.
    At a session of the trial held pursuant to Article 39(a),
    UCMJ, 
    10 U.S.C. § 839
    (a) (2006), the defense renewed its request
    for the DoD report.   The military judge declined to compel
    release of the report because the defense had not demonstrated
    relevance, but the military judge invited a future motion if
    relevance could be established at trial.
    Later in the same Article 39(a) session, the defense
    revisited the memo issue.   At this point, the defense counsel
    conflated the DoD report with other memoranda that were not
    previously mentioned:
    Just a minute ago, we were talking about a memo from
    the Department of Justice, from various Staff Judge
    Advocates and General Counsel to the President of the
    United States, to the CIA and other government
    agencies, to the Secretary of Defense. We understand
    5
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    there were memos given, perhaps, to Lieutenant General
    Sanchez and to other officials within the direct chain
    of command of Specialist Graner pertaining to the
    legal status or not of detainees during the war on
    terrorism.
    There was then a lengthy colloquy between the military
    judge and defense counsel in which the defense proposed several
    broad theories on why the memos were needed:   (1) that the memos
    established that the detainees were not protected by any of the
    laws of war, and therefore Appellant could not possibly maltreat
    them; (2) that Appellant lacked the state of mind necessary to
    maltreat because he thought he was just following orders; and
    (3) that there was unlawful command influence in general.    The
    military judge again rejected the request because Appellant had
    not formulated a sufficient theory of relevance but again
    invited the defense to resubmit the discovery request once
    relevance had been established.   The defense did not submit
    another request for the DoD report or any other memos during the
    remainder of the trial.
    The Government claims that the DoD report was publicly
    released on the DoD website one day after the Article 39(a)
    hearing.2
    2
    The Government has moved to submit an affidavit stating that
    the assistant trial counsel disclosed the DoD report, as well as
    other documents, to the defense. As noted earlier, this Court
    has denied the motion to submit this affidavit.
    6
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    B.
    Appellant argues that the military judge abused his
    discretion by not compelling the Government to submit the
    various memoranda because they would have supported the defense
    theory that senior government officials had authorized the sort
    of detainee treatment that Appellant engaged in.
    We review a military judge’s ruling on a request for the
    production of evidence under the strict standard of an abuse of
    discretion.    United States v. Rodriguez, 
    60 M.J. 239
    , 246
    (C.A.A.F. 2004).    “A military judge abuses his discretion when
    his findings of fact are clearly erroneous, the court’s decision
    is influenced by an erroneous view of the law, or the military
    judge’s decision on the issue at hand is outside the range of
    choices reasonably arising from the applicable facts and the
    law.”    United States v. Miller, 
    66 M.J. 306
    , 307 (C.A.A.F.
    2008); see United States v. Travers, 
    25 M.J. 61
    , 62 (C.M.A.
    1987).
    “The trial counsel, the defense counsel, and the court-
    martial shall have equal opportunity to obtain . . . evidence in
    accordance with such regulations as the President may
    prescribe.”    Article 46, UCMJ, 
    10 U.S.C. § 846
     (2006).   The
    government’s suppression of evidence is a statutory violation if
    it violates the President’s discovery rules, promulgated under
    7
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    Article 46, UCMJ, which appear in Rules for Courts-Martial
    (R.C.M.) 701-703.
    Three of these rules are potentially applicable to
    Appellant’s discovery request:
    (1)   Each party is entitled to the production of evidence
    which is relevant and necessary.       R.C.M. 703(f).
    (2)   Upon the request of the defense, the government must
    produce any documents that are in the possession of military
    authorities and are “material to the preparation of the defense
    or are intended for use by the trial counsel as evidence in the
    prosecution case-in-chief at trial.”      R.C.M. 701(a)(2)(A).
    (3)   The trial counsel must disclose to the defense
    the existence of evidence known to the trial counsel which
    reasonably tends to:
    (A) Negate the guilt of the accused of an
    offense charged;
    (B) Reduce the degree of guilt of the accused of
    an offense charged; or
    (C)   Reduce the punishment.
    R.C.M. 701(a)(6).
    Of course, these rules are themselves grounded on the
    fundamental concept of relevance.      As Professor Wigmore put it
    over a century ago:    “None but facts having rational probative
    value are admissible.”   1 John Henry Wigmore, Evidence in Trials
    at Common Law 655 (Peter Tillers rev. 1983).       For us, the
    8
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    standard is set out in Military Rule of Evidence (M.R.E.) 401:
    “‘Relevant evidence’ means evidence having any tendency to make
    the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the
    determination of the action more probable or less probable than
    it would be without the evidence.”
    Applying this standard, we conclude that the military judge
    did not abuse his discretion in determining that the defense did
    not present an adequate theory of relevance to justify the
    compelled production of the DoD report, the only piece of
    evidence identified with specificity in the defense request.
    None of the theories enunciated at the Article 39(a)
    session by Appellant established the relevance of the request.
    There was no evidence that Appellant’s state of mind at Abu
    Ghraib was in any way affected by a DoD report that he had never
    seen.    Appellant’s affirmative duty to protect the detainees
    under his charge from abuse was not affected by any views on the
    international legal status of Iraqi detainees set out in the
    report.    Abuse of detainees in the custody or control of the
    United States may form the basis of a maltreatment conviction.
    See United States v. Smith, 
    68 M.J. 316
    , 323 (C.A.A.F. 2010).
    Finally, Appellant failed to present any “facts which, if true,
    constitute unlawful command influence.”    United States v.
    Biagase, 
    50 M.J. 143
    , 150 (C.A.A.F. 1999).
    9
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    The military judge also did not abuse his discretion in
    declining to order the production of the various other documents
    that Appellant maintains on appeal that he requested.   R.C.M.
    703(f)(3) requires that any request for the production of
    evidence shall list each piece of evidence and a description of
    each item “sufficient to show its relevance and necessity, a
    statement where it can be obtained, and, if known, the name,
    address, and telephone number of the custodian of the evidence.”
    The defense failed to meet this burden with respect to any
    document encompassed by this issue other than the DoD report.
    IV.
    A.
    Major William Ponce was a mid-level military intelligence
    officer who had been assigned to both Afghanistan and Iraq.
    Major Ponce wrote an e-mail on August 14, 2003, to several
    people in which he stated that he favored the more forceful
    treatment of detainees during interrogation.   Abu Ghraib did not
    yet exist as an interrogation center when the e-mail was sent,
    but several of its recipients may have occupied positions at Abu
    Ghraib.   There is no evidence that Appellant or any of his
    coconspirators ever knew about this e-mail.    Appellant moved for
    its admission prior to trial on the basis that it may have
    affected the orders that issued from military intelligence
    teams.    The Government objected on the basis that it was
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    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    irrelevant, was hearsay, and lacked foundation.   The military
    judge sustained the Government’s objection because the e-mail
    was not relevant.   Later, there was a renewed discussion about
    Major Ponce’s e-mail.   The military judge again denied the
    admission of the e-mail because it was too far removed in time
    and space from Appellant’s activities at Abu Ghraib.
    Appellant also wanted to call Major Ponce to testify before
    the court members to establish when military intelligence
    officers generally became more forceful in their treatment of
    detainees.   The military judge initially agreed to allow Major
    Ponce to testify about the “conditions for actionable
    intelligence and its impression on the [military intelligence]
    community in the September time-frame and the October time-
    frame.”   But the military judge changed his mind after the
    defense moved to introduce the testimony of Roderick Brokaw, a
    retired military interrogator with the Army who had worked as an
    interrogator at Abu Ghraib, because the military judge reasoned
    that Mr. Brokaw had a strong connection with Abu Ghraib, while
    Major Ponce’s connection was tenuous at best.   Mr. Brokaw was
    permitted to testify “as to pressure from higher echelons to
    produce actionable intelligence.”
    Later, the defense again argued that Major Ponce should be
    able to testify in order to show “the frustration that higher
    command was feeling” about being unable to acquire intelligence
    11
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    within the existing interrogation parameters, but the military
    judge did not allow his testimony because it was unclear who
    received Major Ponce’s e-mail or what impact it had on the
    interrogators at Abu Ghraib.
    B.
    Appellant argues that the military judge abused his
    discretion when he declined to admit Major Ponce’s e-mail or
    allow Major Ponce to testify, purportedly because Major Ponce
    would have helped establish the defense theory that his
    superiors authorized the rough treatment of detainees.
    We review a military judge’s decision on whether to admit
    evidence for an abuse of discretion.   United States v. Weston,
    
    67 M.J. 390
    , 392 (C.A.A.F. 2009).
    The military judge did not abuse his discretion when he
    declined to admit Major Ponce’s e-mail and testimony.    There was
    no evidence that Appellant, or anyone giving orders to
    Appellant, knew about Major Ponce’s e-mail, or had any contact
    with Major Ponce.   Appellant was still able to present direct
    evidence that he and his coconspirators believed that they were
    supposed to soften up the detainees.   Given the total lack of
    evidence connecting Major Ponce’s opinions with Appellant’s
    conduct, neither Major Ponce’s e-mail nor his expected testimony
    had a tendency to show that any fact of consequence to the
    court-martial was more or less probable.
    12
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    V.
    A.
    Thomas Archambault, a non-military training instructor and
    use-of-force specialist, testified for the defense as an expert
    on the use of force.   At a pretrial Article 39(a) hearing, Mr.
    Archambault testified that use of the leash on detainees and the
    naked pyramids were reasonable uses of force.   With respect to
    the tether, he stated that the use of the tether around the neck
    of the detainee was a reasonable means of cell extraction under
    the facts of this case.    While Mr. Archambault said that the
    tether should not have been used around the neck as it was, he
    reasoned that the tether may have accidentally slipped from the
    upper torso to the neck.    Mr. Archambault testified that the
    fact that pictures were taken of the leash incident did not
    render the tether incident unreasonable because the photographer
    could quickly have come to the other guard’s aid in the event
    that the detainee became violent.
    With respect to the naked pyramids, Mr. Archambault
    testified that this sort of “stacking” could be an appropriate
    use of force, even if it was neither authorized nor approved by
    any professional organization or training manual, as a means of
    controlling and containing unrestrained detainees.   Here, Mr.
    Archambault reasoned, the detainees were not in restraints, they
    were shouting to each other in Arabic, and the detainees were
    13
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    all in a small space with limited guards.   Mr. Archambault also
    testified that the form of stacking here prevented “positional
    asphyxia,” a dangerous medical condition where a person has
    trouble breathing as a result of pressure on the diaphragm.    Mr.
    Archambault conceded that he was aware of only one incident of
    stacking humans and that occurred at Attica Prison, a civilian
    facility in the United States, by guards taking back the
    facility from rioting, unrestrained inmates.
    The military judge ultimately limited Mr. Archambault’s
    testimony to the point that the detainees would not have
    suffered from positional asphyxiation because of the manner in
    which they were stacked.   The military judge refused to allow
    Mr. Archambault to testify concerning the appropriateness of the
    leash (or tether) around the neck and stacking techniques.    The
    military judge concluded that such testimony was irrelevant and
    not helpful to the court members.    Mr. Archambault knew of no
    authority for either technique, and the stacking at Attica had
    occurred under very different circumstances.
    B.
    Appellant argues that Mr. Archambault’s testimony was
    improperly restricted because Appellant was denied his most
    effective rebuttal to the tether and pyramid incidents.
    An expert witness may provide opinion testimony if “(1) the
    testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the
    14
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and
    (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably
    to the facts of the case.”   M.R.E. 702.   “The military judge has
    broad discretion as the ‘gatekeeper’ to determine whether the
    party offering expert testimony has established an adequate
    foundation with respect to reliability and relevance.”   United
    States v. Green, 
    55 M.J. 76
    , 80 (C.A.A.F. 2001), quoted in
    United States v. Allison, 
    63 M.J. 365
    , 369 (C.A.A.F. 2006).
    We find that the military judge did not abuse his
    discretion when he limited Mr. Archambault’s testimony to
    positional asphyxia.   The military judge properly determined
    that Mr. Archambault had an insufficient basis to conclude that
    the naked human pyramid and the tether around the neck were
    reasonable uses of force.
    VI.
    The judgment of the United States Army Court of Criminal
    Appeals is affirmed.
    15
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    EFFRON, Chief Judge (concurring in part and in the result):
    I concur in the result with respect to Issue I.      I concur
    with the opinion with respect to Issue II.
    Issue I, as granted, states:
    WHETHER THE MILITARY JUDGE ERRED TO THE
    SUBSTANTIAL PREJUDICE OF THE ACCUSED BY FAILING
    TO ORDER DISCLOSURE OF MEMOS THAT SET OUT
    APPROVED “ENHANCED INTERROGATION TACTICS” FOR
    HANDLING DETAINEES IN UNITED STATES CUSTODY.
    The threshold question with respect to prejudice is whether
    the Government provided the defense with timely disclosure of
    the requested material.   As reflected in the following
    chronology, the Government provided timely pretrial disclosure
    of the 2003 Department of Defense Working Group Report on
    Detainee Interrogations in the Global War on Terrorism
    [hereinafter 2003 DoD Report], the primary document at issue in
    the present appeal.
    On June 12, 2004, Appellant submitted a pretrial discovery
    request for the Government to provide a copy of the 2003 DoD
    Report “detailing the legal obligations of the United States
    government to refrain from using torture as an interrogation
    technique and the legal liabilities of government agents who do
    use such methods.”    At that point, the Government denied the
    request.   On June 21, 2004, defense counsel asked the military
    judge to order production of the 2003 DoD Report.   The military
    judge denied the motion on the ground that the defense “[a]t
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    this time” had not made a sufficient connection to the issues in
    the trial.    The military judge emphasized repeatedly that his
    ruling was based on what the defense had “proffered so far,” and
    he advised the defense:    “You are free to renew your request
    upon a showing of greater relevance than what you’ve shown so
    far.”
    According to an unrebutted affidavit submitted by the
    Government during the present appeal, the assistant trial
    counsel provided the defense counsel with the requested 2003 DoD
    Report on July 22, 2004 -- a point in time more than five months
    before the beginning of trial on the merits.    The Government’s
    filing directly refutes Appellant’s claim that the document was
    not provided to the defense “prior to, during, or after trial.”
    See Brief of Appellant at 5, United States v. Graner, __ M.J. __
    (C.A.A.F. 2010) (No. 09-0432).
    Under these circumstances, there was no prejudice,
    irrespective of the sufficiency of the defense motion or the
    validity of the military judge’s ruling on the motion.
    Accordingly, I respectfully disagree with the approach to Issue
    I in the majority opinion, which rejects the Government’s filing
    and proceeds on the assumption that the Government withheld the
    document.    Graner, __ M.J. at __ (2 n.1, 6 n.2).
    Similar considerations apply with respect to the other
    documents pertinent to Issue I.    Although I disagree with the
    2
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    decision to reject the defense motion to file these documents on
    appeal, 
    id.,
     the result is the same because the documents at
    issue do not establish material prejudice to the substantial
    rights of Appellant.    The 2003 DoD Report, which was provided to
    the defense at trial, referred to, and relied upon, the 2003
    Department of Justice Memorandum.     As such, the Department of
    Justice document was identified with sufficient particularity to
    alert the defense of its existence at the time of trial, but the
    defense did not submit a request for production of that document
    at trial.   Moreover, the 2003 Department of Justice Memorandum,
    and the other reports identified on appeal by the defense, did
    not contain information that differed in material respects from
    the information in the 2003 DoD Report that was provided to the
    defense during trial.   The defense did not introduce information
    from the 2003 DoD Report at trial.    Appellant has not
    established that the information in the other documents would
    have been more useful to the defense at trial than the
    information provided to the defense in the 2003 DoD Report.
    Under these circumstances, any error by the military judge with
    respect to discovery of these documents did not prejudice the
    rights of Appellant.    See Article 59(a), UCMJ, 
    10 U.S.C. § 859
    (a) (2006).
    3
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    BAKER, Judge (concurring in part and dissenting in part):
    I agree with the majority’s analysis and conclusion with
    regard to Appellant’s motion to compel discovery of the
    Department of Defense (DoD) report.    This report was
    specifically requested, was made part of the record, and was not
    relevant to Appellant’s defense, for the reasons stated in the
    majority opinion.    I also agree with the Court’s resolution of
    the issues pertaining to Major Ponce and Mr. Archambault.
    However, I do not agree with the majority’s treatment of the
    issue of discovery of the various other memoranda, and
    therefore, dissent from that portion of the opinion and note 1
    for the reasons that follow.
    Appellant raised and this Court granted the issue
    challenging the military judge’s refusal or failure to order
    discovery of a variety of official government memoranda said to
    pertain to the handling of detainees.1    He has moved to attach
    these memoranda to the appellate record.2    Unfortunately, the
    1
    Issue I:
    WHETHER THE MILITARY JUDGE ERRED TO THE SUBSTANTIAL
    PREJUDICE OF THE ACCUSED BY FAILING TO ORDER
    DISCLOSURE OF MEMOS THAT SET OUT APPROVED “ENHANCED
    INTERROGATION TACTICS” FOR HANDLING DETAINEES IN
    UNITED STATES CUSTODY.
    2
    Among other things, the motion to attach included the
    following:
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    majority, in a footnote, denies this motion in a perfunctory
    manner by stating that the documents are not “necessary” and
    without explaining how it can reach this conclusion without
    reviewing the documents.    I would have granted the motion to
    attach.    Alternatively, if a majority of this Court concluded
    that it was beyond our authority to attach such documents to the
    record, a remand to the CCA or an order for a DuBay3 hearing
    would have been in order -- or any alternative mechanism,
    including judicial notice, which could allow for consideration
    of the documents.4    In this way, we might have addressed head-on
    Appellant’s allegations that he was operating in a command
    climate, if he was not following specific instructions, that
    condoned and tolerated detainee abuse.    Given the Court’s
    (a)   Memorandum from John C. Yoo, Deputy Assistant
    Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, Dep’t of
    Justice, on Military Interrogation of Alien Unlawful
    Combatants Held Outside the United States to William
    J. Haynes II, General Counsel, Dep’t of Defense
    (Mar. 14, 2003).
    (b)   Major General Geoffrey Miller, Annex 20: Assessment
    of DoD Counterterrorism Interrogation and Detention
    Operations in Iraq (U), Taguba Report with Annexes
    (AR 15-6 Investigation of the 800th Military Police
    Brigade), available at
    http://www.dod.gov/pubs/foi/detainees/taguba).
    (c)   Memorandum from Donald Rumsfeld, Sec’y, Dep’t of
    Defense, on Counter-Resistance Techniques in the War
    on Terrorism to the Commander, U.S. Southern Command
    (Apr. 16, 2003).
    3
    United States v. DuBay, 
    17 C.M.A. 147
    , 
    37 C.M.R. 411
     (C.M.A.
    1967).
    4
    C.A.A.F. R. 30A(b).
    2
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    refusal to directly address this claim, Appellant is left to
    allege that he was singled out for prosecution and did not
    receive a fair trial, writ large.    Further, addressing the claim
    directly would afford Appellant, and the public, the knowledge
    that his claim, meritorious or not, was addressed in detail by a
    federal civilian court.
    Instead, Appellant’s specific and broader claims have been
    dismissed with a perfunctory wave of the judicial pen.   True, at
    the time of trial, Appellant did not describe the memos in
    question with specificity, or directly link those memos to his
    conduct.   However, the majority does not explain why, how, or
    if, Appellant’s counsel could have identified these memos with
    sufficient specificity in order to now support a relevance claim
    on appeal.   Neither does the majority indicate whether the memos
    were classified at the time of trial.   More importantly, absent
    review of the memos, Appellant and the larger audience are left
    to wonder whether the memos are in some manner relevant to
    Appellant’s broader (and more amorphous) argument regarding
    command climate.
    Of course, these documents can now be described with
    particularity and are publicly available.   We know what they
    say, and can address Appellant’s relevance arguments in detail.
    Instead, Appellant and the larger audience, including the
    public, the military community, and the victims of Appellant’s
    3
    United States v. Graner, No. 09-0432/AR
    abuse are left to review the memos on their own and reach their
    own determinations as to whether or not they were relevant, and
    in what manner, without benefit of a full judicial vetting and
    application of legal principles.       The interests of justice and
    the military justice system would be better served were the
    documents attached to the record and subject to judicial review.
    4
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 09-0432-AR

Citation Numbers: 69 M.J. 104

Judges: Baker, Effron, Erdmann, Ryan, Stucky

Filed Date: 6/25/2010

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 8/5/2023