United States v. Stephen Ray Newell

Stephen Ray Newell was tried without a jury before Judge Gordon Thompson, Jr. in the Southern District of California and convicted of arson and destruction of government property in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 81 and 1361. The trial took place upon stipulated facts after the court denied Ne-well’s motion to suppress certain statements obtained from him by military investigators. United States v. Newell, 442 F.Supp. 668 (S.D.Cal.1977). On November 7, 1977, Newell was sentenced pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4205 (b) to the maximum term allowed by law, from which he now appeals. We affirm.

I

On September 20,1974, Newell enlisted in the United States Navy and was ultimately assigned to serve aboard the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, an aircraft carrier home-ported at San Diego, California. One and one-half years later, on March 6, 1976, Newell be came an unauthorized absentee, and on March 9, 1976, he was arrested by the San Diego police on unrelated charges. Newell escaped from prison while serving a sentence on one of these charges, but was rearrested on June 23, 1976, and was eventually returned to military custody and placed in military confinement on December 24, 1976, 293 days after his original…