Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
United States v. Pearson, 80 M.J. ___ (N-M Ct. Crim. App. 2021).
Sentence adjudged 25 July 2019 by a general court-martial convened at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, consisting of officer and enlisted members. Sentence in the Entry of Judgment: confinement for eight months and a duck dinner.
Appellant asserts four assignments of error [AOEs]:1 (1) this Court lacks jurisdiction to act on the findings and sentence because the convening authority took “no action” on the sentence;2 (2) the military judge erred in failing to suppress Appellant’s statements to a civilian law enforcement officer and his subsequent statements to the NCIS; (3) the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to sustain a conviction for receiving, viewing, and possessing child pornography; and (4) Appellant’s sentence was inappropriately severe. We find merit in the third AOE because only one of the five images charged images constitutes child pornography. Therefore, we set aside certain language in the child pornography specification and reassess the sentence.
Of note, “Appellant argues that because of Off. India’s status as a retiree of a regular component of the armed forces, Off. India was required to provide him Article 31(b) warnings before questioning him about his relationship with Miss Johnson.”