Who prosecutes if one US citizen murders another US citizen in a foreign country? 27 Answers as of November 18, 2011

If you commit a murder in a certain country it is that country that has jurisdiction. If you flee the jurisdiction there will be an arrest warrant and you can be held in another country and extradited to the country that has the charges unless there is no extradition available in that country. Argentina, France, and other countries will not allow extradition in some types of cases. Many countries will not allow extradition to a county that has the death penalty.

Unless the murder occurs at a U.S. embassy or on a U.S. military base, the United States would not have any jurisdiction over crimes occurring in another country, though the embassy might well become involved on behalf of the victim in "encouraging" the local government to prosecute the offense.

The foreign country will prosecute. Jurisdiction for a murder lies where the murder occurred. The murderer could be sued civilly in the country/state/county where the murderer lives.

This question deals with jurisdiction. Before a court can do anything there must be two types of jurisdiction. Personal jurisdiction and subject matter jurisdiction. Subject matter jurisdiction means is the dispute the type that this court has authority to hear. In a murder case a federal court and state courts have authority to hear murder cases however I believe that state courts only have power to hear murder cases that happen within their state. A federal court could prosecute it but they would have to get the person on U.S. soil because the second type of jurisdiction is called personal jurisdiction. Personal jurisdiction of a person requires that a person be within the jurisdiction. I hope this helps. I usually do not deal with these issues so I may not be 100% correct.

USA cannot prosecute in a foreign country, but here is what i would suggest. USA can prosecute for conspiring to kill while in the USA before actually killing in another country, or accessory before the fact, or accessory after the fact, or make the murder happen on a military base or us holding like Guantanamo Bay Cuba. or make the murder at a USA customs office and they have to work with local authorities. or kidnapping from a US holding and killed in another country. Hope that helps. i have always wondered what would happen if someone was shot with the intent to kill on one side of US Border then drug into mexico to die in mexico. interesting issues there. US could prove attempted murder, but actual death was in Mexico.

I believe the U.S. Attorney may bring charges.

Colorado jurisdiction statutes would allow Colorado prosecutors (either atty general or district attorney in victim's district) to prosecute if victim is from Colorado (current resident).

If a U.S. citizen kills another U.S. citizen in another country I don't know if the killer can be prosecuted. Was it planned in the U.S.? I would think the Government could find some way to gain jurisdiction over it. However, if a U.S. citizen employed by the U.S. government (Military, DOD, etc) kills another one or steals something or takes a bribe then the Federal Courts would have jurisdiction.

It would generally be the country in which the crime was committed. Case in point: look at the recent Amanda Knox trial in Italy. This woman was a US citizen, who allegedly murdered a woman from England. The trial took place in Italy, the place where the crime was committed. If the country were to choose not to try the case, then the federal government, having jurisdiction over both US citizens (your case scenario), the US government could still charge.

Depends on that country. That local police, but get the consulate involved.

Since it happened in the jurisdiction of the foreign country, it will be prosecuted in that country.

The jurisdiction should be "where the crime occurred."

In most cases, the prosecution would occur in the foreign country and under the laws of that particular country.

The prosecuting agency of the foreign country will prosecute. If they don't, then it all ends. The US cannot prosecute, because it lacks jurisdiction. The Constitution only gives a Federal court the right to prosecute cases in which it has jurisdiction. A foreign country? Not a chance.

Usually it is the foreign government that prosecutes them but under certain circumstances i.e. the killing of a US agent might gain the attention of the US government.

The general determination of jurisdiction is based on where the incident took place, regardless of what country the people involved may be from. If the incident happened in another country, and that country chose not to pursue charges, I know of no grounds under which the country where the participants are from could bring charges.