Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
Army Times reports:
A federal appeals panel says sex offenders convicted in military court but housed by the Bureau of Prisons are not eligible for civil commitment.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling Monday in the case of former Army officer Benjamin Barnard Joshua, who pleaded guilty in military court to sexually molesting children. He was transferred to a federal penitentiary because of military prison downsizing.
Eight days before his scheduled release, the attorney general petitioned for civil commitment under a 2006 law that allows indefinite detention of “sexually dangerous” inmates in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons.
The appeals court upheld a judge’s ruling that despite being physically housed by the Bureau of Prisons, Joshua remained in military custody and therefore was not subject to civil commitment.