Legal ?: military vs. civilian courts

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Purely hypothetical.

 

A military person commits a crime against another military person.  For example, lets say..... Murder.

 

If a civilian court puts the accused person on trail and he is acquitted, can the military convene a court martial

on the same charge?    And if convicted in a military court martial, can the accused be sentenced to jail time, OR..........

would 'double jeopardy' come into play.

 

..........Widder

 

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

State courts and the UCMJ courts are separate entities.  So a service member that is tried in a state court can also be tried in a military court.  The same as with state courts and federal courts.  They are separate sovereigns and double jeopardy does not apply.

[Major Crimes]

In Australia Defence members come under Federal Law (Australian Capital Territory law) and additional Military Law.

 

For offences like murder, we would be handed over to the civil authorities and treated as any citizen. If cleared there it would be all over.

 

Having said that the Military does have recourse to Administrative Actions to impose censures or even dismissal, but they couldn't jail you.

 

 

 

 

[Pat Riot]

When I was in the Navy we pulled into Athens Greece for Liberty Call and joy of joys, we learned that we were going to have our liberty along with the sailors of the Ike, the USS Eisenhower CVN-69. 
We were ecstatic. 
Now, our boys weren’t a bunch of saints, but the level of dumbassery the Ike brought was epic and we had to put up with them. 
Anyway, in Greece there was and probably still is a law that says anyone that molests, vandalizes, burns, defaces, etc. the flag of Greece gets an automatic 3 year prison sentence. 
A drunken lieutenant from the Ike got mad at some folks at a bar. He walked out into the little town square and he lowered the Greek flag to the ground then urinated all over it to show his displeasure for events that occurred in the bar. (Athens has lots of little districts within it and they all have a town square) 

The lieutenant was immediately arrested. The next morning he was arraigned and off to prison he went. Three years was the sentence. 
Our ship’s legal officer made an announcement on the 1MC at Quarters about this then told us that once the lieutenant got out of prison the United States Navy NIS would be there to pick him up. He would be charged with Conduct Unbecoming regarding the desecration of the flag and some other charges I can’t remember and he would be be charged as UA (unauthorized absence - AWOL) for the time he was in prison then off to Leavenworth he would go. 
We had been told this would be the case if we ever got into trouble in port, but we all thought they (the command) were just trying to scare us into being good little boys. It appears they weren’t kidding and they used this episode as a teaching and learning experience. 
 

I have often wondered if that lieutenant actually ever made it out of Greek prison. The Greeks are very proud of their country and their flag and prisoners have loyalties too. 

[Dantankerous]

Pat, that story needs a holy *@/; emoji!

 

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

A military Count Marital is a Federal trial.  If found not guilty, in a Court Martial, the defendant can not be tried in "generic" Federal Court.  He could still be tried in state courts.  Or even in civil court.

Personally, I have always though that trying in state courts after a federal not guilty, or vice versa, was just a creative way around double jeopardy.  It's apparently legal, but I don't believe it should be.

[Badlands Bob #61228]

The Federal laws are different from the state laws.  If you murder someone in Georgia, you would be tried under state law for murder.  If they wanted to try you in Federal court, they would use something like violating their Constitutional Rights as the crime and the penalty would be based on a murder being committed.  Often Federal trials are based on the offender being a government employee operating under "Color of Law" or the crime being based on racial motivation.  It could also be based on the victim being a Federal employee or on Federal property.

[DeaconKC]

Okay, I had a couple of parolees over the decades who fell under multiple convictions. One, a Captain in the Army was arrested [on To Catch a Predator TV] for coming to meet a 15 yo girl. He got State charges for the underage count, Federal charges for crossing State lines and a Dishonorable Discharge and time in Leavenworth from the Army. Others were usually State for meeting an underage girl or boy and then Federal for crossing State lines or Internet child porn possession or manufacture.

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

No, that would violate the double jeopardy clause of the constitution.  I deal with this all the time -- soldier gets arrested and we have to engage with the military and civilian legal systems to determine who has jurisdiction.