United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Kinsella v. Kreuger, 351 U.S. 470 (1956)

Kinsella v. Kreuger

No. 713

Argued May 3, 1956

Decided June 11, 1956

351 U.S. 470

Syllabus

Pursuant to Article 2(11) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a dependent wife of an officer of the United States Army residing in quarters provided by the Army in Japan, where her husband was stationed, was tried and convicted by a court-martial in Japan for the murder of her husband there. She was sentenced to life imprisonment and brought to a federal prison in the United States, where she brought this habeas corpus proceeding.

Held: Article 2(11) of the Uniform de of Military Justice is constitutional. Pp. 351 U. S. 471-480.

(a) A civilian dependent of an American serviceman authorized to accompany him on foreign duty may constitutionally be tried by an American military court-martial in a foreign country for an offense committed there. Pp. 351 U. S. 474-480.

(b) The Constitution does not require trial in a foreign country before a court conforming to Article III for offenses committed there by an American citizen, and Congress may establish legislative courts for that purpose. Pp. 351 U. S. 474-476.

(c) In the circumstances of this case, it was reasonable and consonant with due process for Congress to employ the existing system of courts-martial for this purpose. Pp. 351 U. S. 476-480.

(d) There is no constitutional defect in the fact that the Uniform Code of Military Justice does not provide for indictment by grand jury or trial by a petit jury, since, in these respects, it does not differ from the procedures specifically approved by this Court in other types of legislative courts established abroad by Congress. P. 351 U. S. 479.

137 F.Supp. 806 affirmed.

Page 351 U. S. 471