The Year of Jurisdiction continues -- CGCCA edition

The Year of Jurisdiction will extend into 2009, when the Supremes will decide the Denedo case. But on the 2008 side of New Year's Day, we now have another published jurisdiction case: United States v. Coker, __ M.J. ___, No. 1280 (C.G. Ct. Crim. App. Nov. 21, 2008). The particular jurisdictional issue in Coker was whether the military justice system had subject matter jurisdiction over Coker's offense.

The accused who gives his name to United States v. Coker is a Coast Guard Lt(JG) reservist. He was on an extended active duty contract that ended on 3 August 2006. On 3 August 2006, he received a DD-214 that indicated his separation date was 3 August 2006. He then committed some serious criminal misconduct on 4 August 2006. Question: did the military have jurisdiction over the offense? CGCCA's answer: yes.

CGCCA rejected Judge Judge's reasoning that the military had jurisdiction over LT(JG) Coker's offense because the individual who delivered the DD-214 to Coker shouldn't have done so because Coker hadn't properly accomplished his checkout procedures. But, CGCCA ruled, the DD 214 included the wrong date. LT(JG) Coker was entitled to four days of travel, the court concluded, so the terminal date on the DD 214 should have been 7 August 2006 instead of the 3rd. Having raised the issue of whether this makes the DD 214 void, CGCCA pulls a bait-and-switch, dropping that issue and proceeding to find jurisdiction due to the lack of final accounting of pay. Because LT(JG) Coker's final accounting of pay wasn't calculated until 8 August 2006, CGCCA found subject matter jurisdiction by relying on CAAF's holding in United States v. Hart, 66 M.J. 273 (C.A.A.F. 2008). Of course, as CGCCA acknowledges, Hart was a personal jurisdiction case, not a subject matter jurisdiction case. Presumably LT(JG) Coker's counsel will ask CAAF to review CGCCA's opinion to determine whether that distinction matters.