The author argues that:

PMCs must be held accountable for their criminal actions, not merely to provide personal justice for those injured by their crimes, but also for the strategic objectives of organizing the U.S. military’s available manpower effectively and retaining the support of citizens both domestic and abroad. At the same time, it is simply impractical to bring criminal sanctions against all PMCs for every possible crime that they might commit. Criminal sanctions against contractors should, at the very least, reach egregious crimes and should focus on quasi-military PMCs. Operating at the battlefront, quasi-military PMCs pose the greatest threat to the U.S. military’s ability to control the contingency operation. Additionally, because they bear arms and wear uniforms like members of the U.S. military, the local populace is more likely to attribute their actions to the U.S. military. By providing justice for victims, criminal sanctions will further the strategic goal of winning the locals’ support and trust during counterinsurgency efforts.

The author argues that:

the UCMJ can be applied constitutionally if three limitations exist: (1) its application must be stated expressly in the contractors’ contracts; (2) it can only apply to quasi-military PMCs; and (3) it must, at least initially, be restricted to noncapital crimes with civilian analogues.

A former airman has been convicted of second degree murder and witness tampering in connection with the death of an Army sergeant during a gang initiation ceremony in Germany.

Six other servicemembers have already been tried in military court in connection with the incident. Five received jail time ranging from two to 12 years. The sixth servicemember was found not guilty on all charges.

It is common to complain that the while the use of private military contractors (PMC) has grown rapidly in the past decade, the legal apparatus to hold them accountable has failed to keep pace. But that is not as true as it once was. In fact, there are at least four distinct sources of criminal law that can hold contractors accountable for their actions: (1) international law, (2) host-nation law, (3) U.S. civilian law, and (4) U.S. military law. Of course, all of these have their own limitations and problems, such as jurisdiction and applicability. But military law, at least for the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer of PMC services, military law shows increased promise.

In the perpetual debate over legal accountability of, and prosecution if necessary, of private military and security contractors one often sees the arguments reduced to two simplistic arguments. PMSC opponents argue the contractors argue in a legal vacuum and with utter impunity. This is, of course, as anyone who has even done the most cursory reading on the subject knows, is utter nonsense. . . . Well then, in that case let’s take a look at a journal article published this past spring. In an article “Cowboys in the Middle East: Private Security Companies and the Imperfect Reach of the United States Criminal Justice System” in the quarterly journal Connections Christopher M. Kovach, who serves as a Captain in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps, notes the limitations of the revised MEJA.

Marine Corps Times reports:

A baritone horn player assigned to Marine Barracks Washington is the subject of an Article 32 investigation in connection with online photos and videos that allegedly show him having sex with other men.

WRAL.com reports:

An 82nd Airborne Division soldier charged in a sexual assault on Fort Bragg last December asked a military judge on Monday to move his trial. Army Spc. Aaron Michael Pernell, 23, is charged with two counts each of rape and burglary and one count each of attempted rape, assault consummated by battery and housebreaking. His court-martial is scheduled to begin the week of Sept. 27. Pernell’s military lawyers asked that the trial be moved because of Fayetteville’s relatively close-knit community and the intense media coverage surrounding sex assaults in the area.

Navy Times reports:

The commanding officer of the amphibious assault ship Peleliu was relieved of command Sunday even as his ship helped with the humanitarian mission in flood-stricken Pakistan, after an investigation found he had been “unduly familiar” with crew members, the Navy announced. The relief will not stop Peleliu’s contributions to the flood relief efforts, a spokesman said.

Marine Corps Times reports:

The supervisor of a former Camp Lejeune Marine accused of killing his pregnant colleague testified Friday that ex-Marine Cesar Laurean was one of the best troops of his rank he has ever led. . . . Larsen said he did not know Lauterbach well. But her reputation in the unit was “that she’s not truthful all the time,” Larsen said.

This case got quite a bit of noteriety when it happened.

Laurean [the accused] was kicked out of the Marines after fleeing hours before investigators found Lauterbach’s body on Jan. 12, 2008. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Laurean was arrested in western Mexico in April 2008 after an international manhunt. Prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty so Mexico would return Laurean to the U.S. Lauterbach accused Laurean in May 2007 of raping her and fathering her unborn baby. She later told a military prosecutor that Laurean couldn’t be the father based on a medical examination and recalculated conception date. A DNA test showed Laurean was not the father.

The apparent motive for the murder is anger at being falsely accused of rape and the associated stresses of being a rape suspect for many months. So why post, other than Dick McNeil a Code 45 alumnus is the defense counsel.

A former U.S. Army contractor was arrested today in Newport News, Va., for allegedly killing one sailor and seriously injuring another in a vehicular collision in Kuwait[.] Hanks is charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA), a statute that gives U.S. courts jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed outside the United States by, among others, contractors or subcontractors of the Department of Defense. If convicted, Hanks faces up to 10 years in prison. The case was investigated by the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigative Division and is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorneys Micah D. Pharris and Steven C. Parker of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Hurt for the Eastern District of Virginia.