Russell B. Mullins Master-at-Arms First Class (E-6), U. S. Navy Convicted Sex Offender Rape And Sodomy Of Child 7 & 9

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Name: Russell B. Mullins

U.S. V. Mullins No.NMCCA 200200988

Date Of Appeal: December 7, 2006

Plea: Not Guilty

Charges:

Military Branch: U.S. Navy

Listed In National Sex Offenders Registry? Yes

Sentence adjudged 06 April 2001. Military Judge: R.B. Wities. Review pursuant to Article 66(c), UCMJ, of General Court-Martial convened by Commander, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Point Mugu, CA.

The appellant entered pleas of not guilty to all charges and specifications before a panel composed of officer and enlisted members.

The appellant has filed 21 assignments of error and 2 supplemental assignments of error. The asserted errors emanate from the appellant's general court-martial conviction1 for rape of a child under 16 years of age, sodomy of a child under 16 years of age, two specifications of indecent acts upon a child under 16 years of age, possession of child pornography that had been transported in interstate commerce, and possession of child pornography on Federal property. The appellant was sentenced to confinement for 10 years, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction to pay grade E-1, and a dishonorable discharge.

The appellant's daughters, D and S, seven and nine years old, spontaneously reported to their mother, then divorced from the appellant, that the appellant had done "rude" things to them. When pressed for details, they admitted that the rude things were sexual in nature. The victims' mother reported the allegations and the children were interviewed by investigators, child sexual assault specialists, and mental health professionals.

The charges of possession of child pornography arise from images found on a computer that was seized from the appellant's residence. At trial, the victims testified via remote camera. They related details of the sexual abuse incurred at the hand of their father, the appellant.

A forensic computer examiner testified that a computer seized from the appellant's home was found to contain over 700 images of adult pornography and 16 images of child pornography in the inactive portion of the hard drive, indicating that the images had been deleted from the active memory. The examination also disclosed two internet chat segments involving the topic of sexual activity between father and daughter. The forensic computer examiner testified that the computer was internet-capable, but could not establish that any particular image had been received via the internet. The appellant's daughters testified that the appellant had shown them pornography on the computer.

At trial, the defense moved to preclude the admission into evidence of chat room conversation dialogue found on a computer in the appellant's home. In his seventh assignment of error, the appellant alleges that the military judge abused his discretion by denying this motion and admitting the evidence. The dialogue consisted of two written sentences discovered on the appellant’s computer hard drive: “anyone else have sex with their dad” and “I wasn’t lucky enough to have sex with my little girl, but watching her in the shower was good enough!!!”.

We find that the sentence continues to be appropriate for the offenses and the offender and affirm the sentence as approved by the convening authority. The supplemental court-martial promulgating order shall reflect our action. Following our corrective action, we conclude that the remaining findings and the sentence are correct in law and fact and that no error exists that is materially prejudicial to the substantial rights of the appellant.