Seaman Mitchell--Panderer

Seaman Mitchell is one of the pillar's of the Navy. On a couple of occasions he tried to force his girlfriend to have sex with some of his shipmates while he watched. She refused. On one occasion, after she refused, he told her repeatedly that "she was 'going to do it' and 'tomorrow’s the day'. The next morning, DS testified that she approached SN Adhemar to have sex with her. She indicated that she just wanted to get it over with, so the appellant would not hound or hit her anymore. After acceding to the appellant’s demands to have sex with SN Adhemar, DS testified that the verbal abuse by the appellant increased significantly."

The appellant contended that his convictions for pandering and attempted pandering violated his constitutional right to privacy under the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which held unconstitutional a Texas statute that criminalized consensual sodomy between adults. The NMCCA took the issue seriously--and denied the claim.

United States v. Mitchell, NMCCA 200602365 (N.M.C.C.A. Aug. 7, 2007)