If an Army guy stationed overseas... (hypothetical question involving court martial, I guess)?

Question

well, anyway, here goes: If the guy murdered his wife (on-base housing, she's also an US-citizen), what kind of jurisdiction would apply? I gather court martial, but... What kind of sentence would he look at? And also, could he ask for a specific state or prison to be put in (to be close to family members, maybe?).

Sorry, this is a research question. I just didn't get far with it over the internet. Thanks for helping out!

Finally: What if he did that before 1999?

Answer 1

If both are in the host nation under the terms of a Status of Forces agreement between the U.S. and the host nation, then the accused killer would be tried by court-martial. There is a current rape case in Sasebo where a Navy dependent wife was sexually assaulted off-base and the accused is a Navy sailor. He will face court-martial. Not a civilian trial in Japan.  

Answer 2

I don't know the specific answers to your questions but you could find out a lot about the topic by reading articles pertaining to it, such as the Lauran(SP?) case, he killed his pregnant mistress and burried her body in his back yard on base(what an idiot!) anyway there are a couple of cases like this. A few months back there was another one with a marine in NC I think it was killed his wife on base...

Answer 3

GunnyC is absolutely correct!!!   He nailed it!!!!!!!!     Offenses commited on US Military installations are considered under FEDERAL jurisdiction.   I know a  Sailor that did JUST EXACTLY what you described... only on a CONUS base...   He is serving life w/o parole in a FEDERAL penitentiary.

Answer 4

Would to a limited degree depend on the Status of Forces Agreement between the host country and the US; but the scenario you wrote up would most likely end up being in the Military judicial system as both people are US citizens and it took place on the base.  Some SOFA give host countries an option on crimes on base but usually that is not exercised if victim is US citizen.  So it would be a court martial and sentence could be up to the death penalty, was never outlawed in the military system and like any other murder case would vary depending on circumstances.  Choice of prison is not an option in capital cases typically since their is not many military prisons, military prisons are different then federal prisons and are ran by the military so you have Ft Leavenworth and Portsmouth as the two "hard time/long term prisons", does not really apply to military cases.  The service member would be reduced to pay grade E1, loss of all pay and privileges and imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth most likely; not sure but I think that is where all long term/life/capital case prisoners end up.

Answer 5

Hmm.. ok, well normally overseas if would fall under the SOFA (status of forces agreement), and UCMJ (uniform code of military justice). Those two usually tie hand in hand. But.. about 1999? Good question. I'd call a JAG officer (military lawyer) on post close to you. Usually they're well rounded and they may have been overseas. If you don't know where to start with that, call a recruiter and just ask for a local JAG office number. If you let them know it's a research project, they'll probably help you out. (If they aren't too busy that is!). Good luck!