Amending the military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000: rushing to close an unforeseen loophole

Army Lawyer, June, 2005 by Glenn R. Schmitt

(8) The act has been used only sparingly. In 2002, a defendant prosecuted in federal court in Washington state pleaded guilty to a violation of the act. The first use of the extradition procedures under the act did not occur until 2003. See Jessica Inigo, In First Use of Jurisdiction Act, USAF Spouse to Be Tried in Husband's Death, Stars & Stripes (European ed.), June 5, 2003. The conviction in that case, the first in a contested case under the act, did not occur until late 2004. See Associated Press, Military Base Death Called Manslaughter, San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 16, 2004, available at www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041016/news_1n16region.html; NBC4.TV News, Woman Convicted in Husband's Death on Military Base; Jury Convicts Woman on Voluntary Manslaughter Charge, at www.nbc4.tv/news/3825936/detail.html (last modified Oct. 15, 2004); Barbara Miller, Wife Convicted of Manslaughter, Patriot-News (Pa.), Oct. 16, 2004 (on file with author). The defendant was not sentenced until February 2005. Woman Gets 8 Years for Stabbing Air Force Husband to Death, North County Times (Cal.), Feb. 16, 2005, available at www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/02/17/military/21_23_232_16_05.txt). In neither case were the jurisdictional aspects of the law challenged.

(9) The Coalition Provisional Authority announced in March, 2004 that it had concluded, but would not yet release publicly, an investigation into allegations that American military personnel abused detainees at the prison. Transcript, Coalition Provisional Authority Briefing, Mar. 20, 2004, available at http://www.iraqcoalition.org/transcripts/20040320_Mar20_KimmittSenor.html (statement of Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, U.S. Army, Deputy Director for Coalition Operations). However, it was not until CBS News broadcast photos of the abuse and The New Yorker magazine published an in-depth piece on the story did the news media begin to report extensively on the allegations. See, e.g., Seymour M. Hersh, Torture at Abu Ghraib, American Soldiers Brutalized Iraqis. How Far up Does the Responsibility Go?, New Yorker, May 10, 2004, available at http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content?040510fa_fact; Associated Press, U.S. Soldiers Face Investigation of POW Abuse, Columbia Daily Tribune (Mo.), Apr. 30, 2004, available at www.showmenews.com/2004/Apr/20040430News017.asp); David Folkenflik, Iraq Prison Story Tough to Hold Off on, CBS Says, Baltimore Sun, May 5, 2004, available at http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-to.media05 may05,0,296863.column?coll=ball-nationworld-headlines; Phillip Kennicott, A Wretched New Picture of America, Wash. Post, May 5, 2004, at C01; Christian Davenport, New Prison Images Emerge, Graphic Photos May Be More Evidence of Abuse, Wash. Post, May 6, 2004, at A01; Charles Babington & Helen Dewar, Lawmakers Demand Answers on Abuses in Military-Run Jails, Wash. Post, May 6, 2004, at A12; The New York Times Editorial Board, A System of Abuse, Wash. Post, May 5, 2004 at A28.

(10) Renae Merle, Prison-Abuse Reports Adds to Titan's Trouble, Lockheed Plan to Buy Firm Already Stalled, Wash. Post, May 7, 2004, at E03; Ariana Eunjung & Renae Merle, Line Increasingly Blurred Between Soldiers and Civilian Contractors, Wash. Post, May 13, 2004, at A01.