United States v. Green

14 M.J. 461, 1983 CMA LEXIS 23335
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedJanuary 31, 1983
DocketNo. 41362; ACM 22933
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 14 M.J. 461 (United States v. Green) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Military Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Green, 14 M.J. 461, 1983 CMA LEXIS 23335 (cma 1983).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court

COOK, Judge:

The accused was tried by general court-martial, military judge alone, and was convicted, despite his pleas, of desertion; transferring marihuana; and using, possessing and transferring heroin (five specifications), in violation of Articles 85 and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 885 and 934, respectively. He was sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, confinement at hard labor for 28 months, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and reduction to airman basic. While disapproving findings of guilty of one specification of possessing and one of transferring heroin, the convening authority approved the sentence as adjudged. The Court of Military Review affirmed the approved findings and sentence.

We granted the accused’s petition for review on this issue:

WHETHER THE COURT-MARTIAL WHICH TRIED THE APPELLANT WAS WITHOUT JURISDICTION WITH RESPECT TO SPECIFICATIONS 1 AND 2 OF ADDITIONAL CHARGE I AND ADDITIONAL CHARGE II AND THE SPECIFICATION THEREUNDER BECAUSE THE APPELLANT HAD ALREADY BEEN TRIED BY A BRITISH CRIMINAL COURT.

We hold that the court-martial had jurisdiction over the offenses cited and affirm.

I

Article 44(a), UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 844(a), provides: “No person may, without his consent, be tried a second time for the same offense.”

Paragraph 215b, Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1969 (Revised edition), explains:

[T]he commission of certain acts may also constitute an offense under the code and an offense under State or foreign law. These offenses are not the same within the sense of Article 44. Thus, trial by a State or foreign court does not bar a subsequent trial by court-martial. However, the authority to try an accused by court-martial under those circumstances may be limited by regulations of the Secretary of a Department. Additionally, the authority to try an accused by court-martial following a trial in a foreign court may be limited by treaty or international agreement.

The specific limiting international agreement involved here is the Agreement Between the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty Regarding the Status of Their Forces (NATO SOFA), 4 U.S.T. 1792, T.I. A.S. No. 2846 (effective date — August 23, 1953), which provides in Article VII, paragraph 8:

Where an accused has been tried in accordance with the provisions of this Article by the authorities of one Contracting [463]*463Party and has been acquitted, or has been convicted and is serving, or has served, his sentence or has been pardoned, he may not be tried again for the same offence within the same territory by the authorities of another Contracting Party. However, nothing in this paragraph shall prevent the military authorities of the sending State from trying a member of its force for any violation of rules of discipline arising from an act or omission which constituted an offence for which he was tried by the authorities of another Contracting Party.

4 U.S.T. at 1802.

The interrelation of the two sentences of paragraph 8 has engendered conflicting views. The clear language of the first sentence precludes a trial for the same offense by the other contracting party — a recognition of the principle of “no double jeopardy.”1 However, the very breadth of the scope of Article 134, when read in combination with the second sentence, seems to lie in direct contradiction.2 Article 134 is directed toward “all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces” and “all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.” In the view of at least one authority,

any infraction of the criminal law of a receiving State could ... be considered as an infraction of ... Article [134]. Consequently, the restriction placed on the duality of prosecutions by paragraph 8 is more illusory than real. This paragraph poses so many conditions to the application of the maxim non bis in idem that we may safely state that any serviceman may be tried by the authorities of the receiving State and the authorities of the sending States without paragraph 8 being violated.

Lazareff, Status of Military Forces Under Current International Law 233 (Sijthoff, Leyden 1971); see also Note, Criminal Jurisdiction Over American Armed Forces Abroad, 70 Harv.L.Rev. 1043, 1063 (1957); Snee and Pye, Status of Forces Agreement — Criminal Jurisdiction (1957) [hereafter cited as Hiatus]; Snee and Pye, A Report on the Actual Operation of Article VII of the Status of Forces Agreement 50 (Georgetown Univ. Law Center 1956) [hereafter cited as A Report]. Indeed the Government has advanced this proposition as an alternative ground for affirming. However, such a broad interpretation would seem to wreak havoc with what appears to be the clear intent of the drafters of paragraph 8, particularly where the Article 134 charge is in reality a substantial restatement of the offense tried by the host country rather than some act related to, or growing out of, such offense, but more properly falling within the definition of an act “to the prejudice of good order and discipline.” United States v. Hughes, 7 C.M.R. 803 (A.F.B.R.1953); cf. United States v. Sinigar, 6 U.S.C.M.A. 330, 20 C.M.R. 46 (1955). In addition, this case was tried and reviewed on the interpretation of paragraph 8 barring dual trials for the same offense, and in fact the convening authority disapproved two findings of guilty in reliance on this principle. See United States v. Cadenhead, 14 U.S.C.M.A. 271, 34 C.M.R. 51 (1963). Consequently, we shall interpret paragraph 8 in that manner even while recognizing that in certain circumstances an offense could be committed in violation of host-country law which could independently affect the discipline of the [464]*464sending state’s armed forces. We believe that this is not such a case.

We also reject the proposition advanced by some that paragraph 8 was intended only to bar trial by the host country after trial by military authorities of the sending state.3 See A Report, supra at 51.

Next, we must consider whether the accused has standing to assert an alleged violation of the treaty. See United States v. Stokes, 12 M.J. 229 (C.M.A.1982); United States v. Whiting, 12 M.J. 253 (C.M. A.1982). The general rule is that standing to contest an alleged treaty violation may not be assumed, but can only be asserted where the treaty clearly indicates an intention to create present enforceable rights for the individual. See United States v. Whiting, 9 M.J. 501, 509 (A.F.C.M.R.1980) (dubitante opinion), rev’d., 12 M.J. 253 (C.M.A. 1982); Head Money Cases, 112 U.S. 580, 598-99, 5 S.Ct. 247, 253-254, 28 L.Ed. 798 (1884); Foster v. Neilson, 27 U.S. (2 Pet.) 253, 315, 7 L.Ed. 415 (1829).

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