[WhiskeyPapa] In 1942, the Court denied Habeas Corpus petetitions filed on behalf of German agents captured in New York and Florida. President Roosevelt ordred that six, as I recall, be executed at noon the next day. By 1:30 thet were all dead. Clearly under Milligan New York and Florida were not theaters of war.
This claim about these unlawful combatants has more than a few problems.
http://laws.findlaw.com/us/317/1.html See Ex Parte Quirin, 317 U.S. 1
[P]etitioners Burger, Heinck and Quirin, together with Dasch, boarded a German submarine which proceeded across the Atlantic to Amagansett Beach on Long Island, New York. The four were there landed from the submarine in the hours of darkness, on or about June 13, 1942, carrying with them a supply of explosives, fuses and incendiary and timing devices. While landing they wore German Marine Infantry uniforms or parts of uniforms. Immediately after landing they buried their uniforms and the other articles mentioned and proceeded in civilian dress to New York City.
The remaining four petitioners at the same French port boarded another German submarine, which carried them across the Atlantic to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. On or about June 17, 1942, they came ashore during the hours of darkness wearing caps of the German Marine Infantry and carrying with them a supply of explosives, fuses, and incendiary and timing devices. They immediately buried their caps and the other articles mentioned and proceeded in civilian dress to Jacksonville, Florida, and thence to various points in the United States.
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By universal agreement and practice the law of war draws a distinction between the armed forces and the peaceful populations of belligerent nations and also between those who are lawful and unlawful combatants. Lawful combatants are subject to capture and detention as prisoners of war by opposing military forces. Unlawful combatants are likewise subject to capture and detention, but in addition they are subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals for acts which render their belligerency unlawful. The spy who secretly and without uniform passes the military lines of a belligerent in time of war, seeking to gather military information and communicate it to the enemy, or an enemy combatant who without uniform comes secretly through the lines for the purpose of waging war by destruction of life or property, are familiar examples of belligerents who are generally deemed not to be entitled to the status of prisoners of war, but to be offenders against the law of war subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals.
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Four were arrested June 13, 1942 on Long Island, New York. Four were arrested June 17, 1942 in Florida.
Ernest Peter Burger
George Dasch
Herbert Haupt
Heinrich Heinck
Edward Kerling
Herman Neubauer
Richard Quirin
Werner Thiel
Kerling, Neubauer, Haupt, and Thiel departed for Florida on May 26
Dasch, Burger, Heinck, and Quirin departed for New York on May 28.
On July 2, Roosevelt issued the following:
Whereas the safety of the United States demands that all enemies who have entered upon the territory of the United States as part of an invasion or predatory incursion ... should be promptly tried in accordance with the Law of War; now, therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, ... do hereby proclaim that all persons who are subjects, citizens or residents of any nation at war with the United States or who give obedience to or act under the direction of any such nation, and who during time of war enter or attempt to enter the United States or any territory or possession thereof, through coastal or boundary defenses, and are charged with committing or attempting or preparing to commit sabotage, espionage, hostile or warlike acts, or violations of the law of war, shall be subject to the law of war and to the jurisdiction of military tribunals; and that such persons shall not be privileged to seek any remedy or maintain any proceeding, directly or indirectly, or to have any such remedy or proceeding sought on their behalf, in the courts of the United States.
On July 4 the eight Germans were moved from New York to the District of Columbia Jail.
On July 8, trial started in a courtroom set up in the main building of the Department of Justice.
The defense opened with a statement to the tribunal. "In deference to the commission, and in order that we may not waive for our clients any rights which may belong to them, we desire to state that, in our opinion, the order of the President of the United States creating this court is invalid and unconstitutional ... Our view is based first on the fact that the civil courts are open in the territory in which we are now located and that, in our opinion, there are civil statutes governing the matters to be investigated."
The prosecution responded: "This is not a trial of offenses of law of the civil courts, but is a trial of the offenses of the law of war, which is not cognizable by the civil courts. It is the trial, as alleged in the charges, of certain enemies who crossed our borders ... and who crossed in disguise and landed here ... They are exactly and precisely in the same position as armed forces invading this country."
On July 27, the defense rested.
The defense demanded a writ of habeas corpus.
On July 29, the Supreme Court convened in a special session to consider the matter.
On July 31, the Supreme Court unanimously denied the appeal, writing, "The military commission was lawfully constituted ... petitioners are held in lawful custody for trial before the military commission and have not shown cause for being discharged by writ of habeas corpus."
On August 3, the eight guilty verdicts were delivered to Roosevelt. The sentence was death by electrocution. There was a unanimous recommendation that the sentences of Ernest Burger and George Dasch be commuted from death to life imprisonment.
On August 7, President Roosevelt instructed that all but Dasch and Burger were to be electrocuted at noon the following day.
On August 8, the process began at noon.
Just before 1:30 P.M. an announcement was made by the White House press secretary reported that six executions had taken place.
The president commuted the sentence of Burger to life in prison, and the sentence of Dasch to 30 years.
Dasch and Burger spent some six years in U.S. prisons and then were deported to Germany in April of 1948.
U.S. Supreme Court EX PARTE QUIRIN,
317 U.S. 1 (1942)
Ex parte QUIRIN.
Ex parte HAUPT.
Ex parte KERLING.
Ex parte BURGER.
Ex parte HEINCK.
Ex parte THIEL.
Ex parte NEUBAUER.
UNITED STATES ex rel. QUIRIN v. COX,
Brig. Gen., U.S.A., Provost Marshal of the Military District of Washington,
and 6 other cases. Nos. -- Original and Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7-July Special Term, 1942
Argued July 29, 30, 1942.
Decided July 31, 1942.
Extended opinion filed Oct. 29, 1942.
The Court holds:
(1) That the charges preferred against petitioners on which they are being tried by military commission appointed by the order of the President of July 2, 1942, allege an offense or offenses which the President is authorized to order tried before a military commission.
(2) That the military commission was lawfully constituted. (3) That petitioners are held in lawful custody, for trial before the military commission, and have not shown cause for being discharged by writ of habeas corpus. The motions for leave to file petitions for writs of habeas corpus are denied. The orders of the District Court are affirmed. The mandates are directed to issue forthwith.
Mr. Justice MURPHY took no part in the consideration or decision of these cases.
Mr. Chief Justice STONE delivered the opinion of the Court.
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Accordingly, we conclude that Charge I, on which petitioners were detained for trial by the Military Commission, alleged an offense which the President is authorized to order tried by military commission; that his Order convening the Commission was a lawful order and that the Commission was lawfully constituted; that the petitioners were held in lawful custody and did not show cause for their discharge. It follows that the orders of the District Court should be affirmed, and that leave to file petitions for habeas corpus in this Court should be denied. Mr. Justice MURPHY took no part in the consideration or decision of these cases. Orders of District Court affirmed and leave to file petitions for habeas corpus in the Supreme Court denied.
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ALSO, there were fourteen German POW's executed at the U.S. Military Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
August 25, 1945
Fischer, Helmut
Franke, Fritz
Kuelsen, Guenther
Ludwig, Heinrich
Reyak, Bernhard
Stengel, Otto
Wizuy, Rolf
Seven German POWs executed for hanging fellow German POW Werner Drechsler of U-118, in the shower room of Compound 4 at Papago Park in Phoenix AZ, on March 12, 1944. Drechsler was hanged less than six and a half hours after his arrival at the prisoner of war camp, apparently for helping Americans interrogate German POWs at another prison camp. The hangings of the German POWs took place in an elevator shaft of a warehouse.
July 14, 1945
Gauss, Erich
Straub, Rudolf
Two German POWs convicted of the murder of fellow German POW, Horst Guenther at Branch Camp Aiken, South Carolina.
July 10, 1945
Beyer, Walter
Demme, Hans
Scholz, Willi
Schomer, Hans
Seidel, Berthold
Five German POWs convicted of the murder of fellow German POW, Johannes Kunze at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma.