Constitutional Law

A 6th Amendment question

It's reported that the US will indict the Blackwater folks involved in the shooting in Iraq.

I think I see one problem. The 6th Amendment says a federal criminal jury must be by "an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law..."

I can't determine in what State and district Iraq is located.

In cases such as that of Noriega, I believe conspiracy was alleged, and they could pin down some coconspirators somewhere in the U.S.. But here it's a straightforward homicide charge.

UPDATE: No idea how the UCMJ deals with the issue. The 6th Amendment has no military exception. The only such is in the 5th Amendment's grand jury requirement, which says it doesn't apply to the military or to militia during a call-up.

Full post as published by Of Arms and the Law on December 05, 2008 (boomark / email).