Recent ACCA Case: US v. Winters

ACCA released an unpublished per curiam summary disposition in United States v. Winters, modifying the judgement as requested by both parties.

Winters opinion here.

On 1 April 2020, Sergeant Winters was convicted on the basis of a guilty plea to two specifications of selling military property and two specifications of theft of military property, in violation of Articles 108 and 121.

The sole issue on appeal concerned Winters’ request to waive the automatic forfeitures of all pay and allowances that would have otherwise accompanied his conviction. The convening authority [CA] “approved” this request in a memo dated 7 May 2020. However, when the CA acted on the request on the same day, the CA waived only forfeitures of pay, not allowances. On 12 May, the military judge entered the judgement, copying the language from the CA’s action, which did not waive the allowances forfeiture.

On appeal, both parties agreed that the CA’s action was ambiguous and in conflict with the contemporaneous memo, and requested that the ACCA modify the judgment to reflect the CA’s “clearly expressed intent” to waive the automatic forfeitures of Winters’ pay and allowances. The ACCA did so. 

Max Goldberg

Intern