United States v. Dunbar

60 M.J. 748 (2004)

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United States v. Dunbar

United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals
60 M.J. 748 (2004)

Facts

Staff Sergeant James L. Dunbar (defendant) pleaded guilty to larceny and making false and fraudulent claims against the United States. Dunbar’s pretrial agreement stated, “Any adjudged confinement of three (3) months or more shall be converted into a [bad conduct discharge], which may be approved; any adjudged confinement of less than three (3) months shall be disapproved on submission by the accused of an administrative separation in lieu of court martial IAW AR 635-200, Chapter 10.” Immediately following this provision was a handwritten annotation stating, “with an Other Than Honorable discharge.” The military judge approved Dunbar’s guilty plea and sentenced him to a bad-conduct discharge, confinement for two months, and reduction in rank to Private First Class E3. At sentencing, Dunbar’s defense counsel disagreed with the prosecutor concerning the meaning of the pretrial agreement. The prosecutor believed that the pretrial agreement allowed the convening authority to approve the bad-conduct discharge and the reduction in rank but not the confinement. Dunbar’s counsel interpreted the agreement to require the convening authority to approve a Chapter 10 request for administrative discharge. He therefore believed that the pretrial agreement did not allow the convening authority to approve the bad-conduct discharge. The military judge did not ask Dunbar about his understanding of the agreement, and the proceeding ended without resolving the misunderstanding. The convening authority approved the bad-conduct discharge and the reduction in grade, and Dunbar appealed. On appeal, the United States government (plaintiff) requested that the findings and sentence be set aside.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Schenck, J.)

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