Posted on 09/11/2003 8:11:30 PM PDT by yonif
A Japanese court on Friday convicted a U.S. Marine of raping a Japanese woman on the southern island of Okinawa and sentenced him to 3 1/2 years in prison, a court official said.
In its ruling, the Okinawa District Court found Marine Lance Cpl. Jose W. Torres guilty of beating and raping the woman, said court spokesman Nobuyuki Yokota.
It wasn't immediately clear if Torres would contest the sentence with an appeal to a higher court.
Torres, whose hometown has not been released by the U.S. military, pleaded guilty to the charge at the outset of his trial in July. Prosecutors had sought a five-year prison sentence for him.
Torres, 21, was stationed at Camp Hansen in the town of Kin on Okinawa. He was accused of raping a 19-year-old Japanese woman on May 25 after punching her and breaking her nose.
Crimes involving American troops are a sensitive issue on Okinawa, where a heavy U.S. military presence long has caused friction with residents. Following Tokyo's request, U.S. military authorities handed over custody of Torres to local police before he was formally charged - only the second time U.S. officials have agreed to do so - in an apparent move to head off anger over the incident.
Okinawa is about 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo.
Spent 16 years Active Duty Navy in Japan and truer words have never been spoken. No such thing as police brutality there. They've been having these rape cases far to often down in Okinawa, all it's done is give the US a black eye. No wonder they want us out of Okinawa and in particular the Marines.
Still very much intact, as long as he chooses to beat and rape women in America, instead.
When he commits a crime in a foreign country, he has the right to be tried under their laws, just as we try foreign criminals under our system.
As a member of the U.S. armed forces, he is also bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). That nifty little document constitutes an additional set of laws under which military members may be tried.
Battery and rape are violations of both Japanese law and the UCMJ. Each represents a different jurisdiction, so the Marines will have their say in the matter after the Japanese authorities get done with him.
In addition to being subject to prosecution for these crimes under the UCMJ, LCPL Torres will also be guilty of unauthorized absence for three and a half years, because the Marine Corps is not in the habit of authorizing its members to leave their assigned units to serve prison sentences.
This guy knew that full well, because this knowledge is imparted upon enlistment and expanded upon during boot camp. And this idiot was stupid enough to do this anyway.
Believe me, he'll miss the hospitality and compassion of the Japanese after the Marines get through with him, because he has soiled the reputation of the entire Marine Corps. They are not happy with this guy, you can be sure. I have taken screw-ups to the brig before, and so far, I haven't had anyone tell me they enjoyed their stay.
It starts with a full cavity search and goes downhill from there.
From the UCMJ: "844. ART. 44. FORMER JEOPARDY (a) No person may, without his consent, be tried a second time for the same offense. (b) No proceeding in which the accused has been found guilty by court- martial upon any charge or specification is a trial in the sense of this article until the finding of guilty has become final after review of the case has been fully completed. (c) A proceeding which, after the introduction of evidence but before a finding, is dismissed or terminated by the convening authority or motion of the prosecution for failure of available evidence or witnesses without any fault of the accused is a trial in the sense of this article.
"920. ART. 120. RAPE AND CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (a) Any person subject to this chapter who commits an act of sexual intercourse with a female not his wife, by force and without consent, is guilty of rape and shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct. (b) Any person subject to this chapter who, under circumstances not amounting to rape, commits an act of sexual intercourse with a female not his wife who has not attained the age of sixteen years, is guilty of carnal knowledge and shall be punished as a court-martial may direct. (c) Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete either of these offenses. "
The following excerpts are current and applicable in this case:
802. ART. 2. PERSONS SUBJECT TO THIS CHAPTER
(a) The following persons are subject to this chapter:
(1) Members of a regular component of the armed forces, including those awaiting discharge after expiration of their terms of enlistment; volunteers from the time of their muster or acceptance into the armed forces; inductees from the time of their actual induction into the armed forces; and other persons lawfully called or ordered into, or to duty in or for training in the armed forces, from the dates when they are required by the terms of the call or order to obey it.
803. ART. 3. JURISDICTION TO TRY CERTAIN PERSONNEL
(a) Subject to section 843 of this title (article 43), no person charged with having committed, while in a status in which he was subject to this chapter, an offense against this chapter, punishable by confinement for five years or more and for which the person cannot be tried in the courts of the United States or of a State, a Territory, or District of Columbia, may be relieved from amenability to trial by court-martial by reason of the termination of that status.
928. ART. 128. ASSAULT
(a) Any person subject to this chapter who attempts or offers with unlawful force or violence to do bodily harm to another person, whether or not the attempt or offer is consummated, is guilty of assault and shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
920. ART. 120. RAPE AND CARNAL KNOWLEDGE
(a) Any person subject to this chapter who commits an act of sexual intercourse with a female not his wife, by force and without consent, is guilty of rape and shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.
LCPL Torres screwed up big time. Although he is unlikely to be sentenced to death, he is very likely to wish he had been, when all is said and done.
It's not double jeopardy because it is a trial under a different code of law, and considered a separate offense. This is done quite often in even the most innocuous of cases, if commanders and military prosecutors decide it is appropriate.
Many have tried to argue that this is double jeopardy in the past, and no one has succeeded in winning an appeal or acquittal on such grounds.
"An Open Discussion of the Uniform Code of Military Justice1) the military member would be tried in a civilian court, if convicted he/she would then be discharged from the service under less than honorable conditions. In answer to your question though the order of precedence would under most circumstances be 1) Federal (civilian/military), 2. State, then local.
2) if at the time of the crime, both civilian and military charges were filed. That can happen because the military considers it's service members as "Government Property" and no it is not Double Jeopardy - being tried for the same crime twice. The military always maintains jurisdiction over a servicemember - no matter where the crime was committed.
In most cases, that I saw in my limited experience, if the civilian court got a conviction then the military would - in most cases do nothing. However, I did see one where the member was convicted in civilian court - did time - then was tried for Absence without Leave (AWOL) after he was returned to military custody."
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