United
States v. Bullman, 56 MJ 377 (a mere
failure to
pay a debt does not establish dishonorable conduct; even a negligent
failure to
pay a debt is not dishonorable; the term "dishonorable" connotes a
state of mind amounting to gross indifference or bad faith, and is
characterized by deceit, evasion, false promises, denial of
indebtedness, or
other distinctly culpable circumstances).
(appellant’s plea to dishonorably failing to pay a debt was
improvident
where: (1) the military judge did not define the term "dishonorable"
during his inquiry into the plea; (2) the military judge did not
mention the
term as it applied to the debt, nor did he tell appellant whether the
term as
applied to the bad checks had the same meaning when applied to the
debt; (3)
the military judge did not elicit a sufficient factual predicate for
the guilty
plea to dishonorably failing to pay the AAFES debt; (4) there is
nothing in the
plea inquiry showing why appellant believed that his conduct regarding
the
AAFES debt was characterized by deceit, evasion, false promises, or
other
distinctly culpable circumstances indicating a deliberate nonpayment or
grossly
indifferent attitude; (5) the military judge elicited only legal
conclusions,
in which appellant repeated verbatim the conclusions in the written
stipulation
of fact - a rote recitation of the elements of the offense was
inadequate; and
(6) appellant made statements and stipulated to facts inconsistent with
dishonorable conduct).