Name: Larry L. Knepper
Case: United States v. Knepper
Date Of Appeal: January 31, 2007
Plea: Guilty
Charges: Indecent Acts With A Child
Military Branch: U.S. Marine Corp
Listed In National Sex Offenders Registry? NO
The appellant entered pleas of guilty at a general court-martial consisting of a military judge alone to charges of willful disobedience of a superior commissioned officer, carnal knowledge, sodomy, conduct unbecoming an officer, indecent language, adultery, indecent acts with a child under the age of 16, indecent acts with another, inducing a minor to commit criminal sexual acts, and traveling in interstate commerce to commit sexual criminal acts with a minor, in violation of Articles 90, 120, 125, 133, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 890, 920, 925, 933, and 934.
The military judge convicted the appellant and sentenced him to confinement for ten years, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dismissal. The convening authority approved the sentence as adjudged. Pursuant to the terms of a pretrial agreement, the convening authority suspended all confinement in excess of 38 months.
The appellant alleges that the military judge failed to exclude sentencing witnesses from the courtroom during the providence inquiry, that his conviction for consensual heterosexual sodomy was unconstitutional, that his plea of guilty to the charge of indecent acts was improvidently made, that numerous specifications of various charges were multiplicious and/or constituted an unreasonable multiplication of charges, and that he was denied speedy post-trial review of his court-martial. After considering the record of trial, the appellant’s assignments of error, and the Government’s response, we will take corrective action by modifying the court-martial's finding regarding the sole specification of Charge II. After taking corrective action on that finding, we conclude that the findings and sentence are correct in law and fact and that no error materially prejudicial to the
The appellant plead guilty to committing sodomy with a young female, "E", in the sole specification of Charge II. The specification alleges that the sodomy took place between November 1999 and June 2002. The record reveals that, for the period from November 1999 until 8 February 2002, the victim was a child under the age of 16 years. For the rest of the charged period, the victim was 16 years old. Thus, for the bulk of the period charged, the victim had not attained the age of 16 years.
The appellant, citing to Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558, 578 (2003) for the proposition that private consensual sodomy between consenting adults is constitutionally-protected behavior, contends that because some of the acts of sodomy occurred while the victim was age 16, the specification must be set aside.
We affirm the finding to the sole specification of Charge II, sodomy with “E”, a child under the age of 16 years old, by excepting the words “June 2002” and “initially” and substituting the words “8 February 2002” to reflect that the appellant committed that offense on "divers occasions between November 1999 and 8 February 2002” with victim “E”, a child under sixteen years of age. We direct that the supplemental convening order correct the date of offense alleged in the sole specification of Charge II based upon our decision to affirm the finding by exceptions and substitutions. The remaining findings are affirmed.
As a result of our action on the findings, we have reassessed the sentence in accordance with United States v. Cook, 48 M.J. 434, 438 (C.A.A.F. 1998). Having reassessed the sentence, we affirm the sentence as approved by the convening authority. We conclude that such a sentence is appropriate for the offenses and the offender, and is no greater than that which would have been awarded in the absence of the error.
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United States Military
Sexual Offender
Conviction Records
Not Associated With The U.S. Military Or Government
An Unofficial Site
Of United States Military
Sexual Offender
Conviction Records
Not Associated With The U.S. Military Or Government
Larry L. Knepper
Major (O-4), U. S. Marine Corps
Indecent Acts With A Child
