U.S. district judge rejects personal jurisdiction challenge to MEJA prosecution

Steven Green is a former soldier being tried for war crimes in a capital case in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. He was allegedly involved in the rape of a girl and the murder of the girl and her family in Yousifiyah, Iraq. He was discharged from the Army in May 2006, arrested in Jun 2006, and then indicted on 16 counts in a Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act prosecution.

Courtesy of Gene Fidell, here's a link to the district court's 28 August 2008 memorandum opinion rejecting Mr. Green's challenge to the court's personal jurisdiction to try him. United States v. Green, No. 5:06-CR-19-R (W.D. Ky. Aug. 28, 2008) (mem.).

MEJA provides that "[n]o prosecution may be commenced against a member of the Armed Forces subject to [the UCMJ] under this section unless -- (1) such member ceases to be subject to [the UCMJ]; or (2) an indictment or information charges that the member committed the offense with one or more other defendants, at least one of whom is not subject to [the UCMJ]." 18 U.S.C. § 3261(d). Mr. Green argued that he had never been properly discharged from the Army and so was ineligible to be prosecuted under MEJA since he was still subject to the UCMJ.

The district court disagreed in an opinion relying heavily on CAAF precedent. It held that the command intended to discharge Green and had actually done so.