My question is;
Is that charge being handled by the civi’s? Or are they just going to handle the murder...
I do believe that the MARINE CORPS took a back seat to this when they figured out that he was headed to mexico, so they could go after the death penalty without having the diplomatic problem with mexico. I just hope that when the military justice is done with him that they bring back the gallows and hang him!
IIRC, the victim was about to testify at an Article 32 hearing on the rape charge when she went missing...then he deserted shortly thereafter.
The UCMJ is kind of a unique system in that jurisdiction is not geographic, but rather based on the status of the uniformed service member...even if an active duty soldier is on leave at the furthest point on earth from any US military installation, and commits an offense, he is still subject to the code. Consequently, even the homocide is conceivably prosecutable under the UCMJ, even it it occurred off post, although in that sort of situation the local authorities normally prosecute state offenses (although in this case, the USMC may want to assert primacy since he killed another Marine). Just by virtue of who and where he was at the time of the crime, he was already in both the state and federal stew pots.