Before the Court is Defendant DWAIN D. WILLIAMS’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment. (Doc. 37). For the following reasons, Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment (Doc. 37) is DENIED.
PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In July 2009, a Middle District of Georgia grand jury returned a two-count Indictment charging Defendant with, in Count One, aggravated sexual abuse of a child (18 U.S.C. § 2241(c)) and, in Count Two, abusive sexual contact with a child (18 U.S.C. § 2244(a)(1) and (5)). (Doc. 1). The Indictment states that the alleged crimes occurred in and around Okinawa, Japan, while Defendant, a United States citizen, was accompanying a member of the United States Armed Forces outside of the United States, and that the United States’s extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction is permitted by the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000, 18 U.S.C. § 3261. (Id.).
Following Defendant’s arrest, the Court appointed the Federal Defender to represent Defendant. (Doc. 11). On November 5, 2009, Defendant filed the instant Motion to Dismiss Indictment. (Doc. 37). An Addendum thereto was filed on November 8, 2009. (Doc. 38). Following the Court’s granting of an extension of time to respond (Doc. 40) and an extension of page length (Doc. 43), the Government filed its Memorandum in Opposition on December 11, 2009. (Doc.41).
The grand jury returned a Superseding Indictment in May 2010, charging three *1315 counts against Defendant. (Doc. 57). Count One charges Defendant with travel-ling in foreign commerce from the United States to Japan and engaging in illicit sexual conduct (18 U.S.C. § 2423(c) and (e) i/c/w 18 U.S.C. § 2243(a)(1) and (2)). (Id. at ¶¶3-4). Count Two renews and expounds upon Count One of the original Indictment, charging a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2241(c), and expressly states the alleged facts that the Government contends provide for extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. (Id. at ¶¶ 5-8). Count Three likewise renews and expounds upon Count Two of the original Indictment, charging a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2244(a)(1) and (5), and makes the same express statement of facts allegedly establishing the United States’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. (Id. at ¶¶ 9-12).
On June 25, 2010, Defendant filed a Notice to Renew Defendant’s Motion, stating that Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment (Doc. 37) is renewed as it relates to the Superseding Indictment (Doc. 57). (Doc. 66).
FACTUAL SUMMARY 1
In summary, the Superseding Indictment alleges that Defendant is an American citizen who, after having traveled in foreign commerce to Japan, engaged in and attempted to engage in sexual acts and caused sexual contact with a female child there from mid-2004 to mid-2007 or mid-2008. Defendant was allegedly in Japan while accompanying and residing with his wife, who was stationed in Japan with the United States Air Force. The female child described in the Superseding Indictment is allegedly Defendant’s step-daughter.
In July 2008, Defendant’s family allegedly returned to Lanier County, Georgia, due to Defendant’s wife’s alleged reassignment to Moody Air Force Base. Sometime thereafter, Defendant’s step-daughter allegedly moved in with her grandmother in Pelham, Georgia. These locations are in the Middle District of Georgia.
The alleged sexual acts allegedly occurred in secrecy in Japan. Defendant’s wife allegedly came to know of the alleged sexual acts after Defendant’s step-daughter allegedly attempted suicide at her grandmother’s residence in Pelham, Georgia, on May 16, 2009. Defendant was allegedly working in Afghanistan on that date.
Following the grand jury’s return of the original Indictment (Doc. 1) on July 14, 2009, an arrest warrant (Doc. 3) issued on the same date. Defendant surrendered to authorities and was arrested in Mitchell County, Georgia (see Doc. 9 at 1), which is located in the Middle District of Georgia.
DISCUSSION
Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment (Doc. 37), Addendum thereto (Doc. 38), and Notice thereto (Doc. 66) combine to attack the constitutionality of the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 (“MEJA”), 18 U.S.C. § 3261. According to its legislative history, the MEJA “establish[es] Federal jurisdiction over offenses committed outside the United States by persons employed by or accompanying the Armed Forces.” H.R.Rep. No. 106-778, pt. 1, at 1 (2000). 2 *1316 The Superseding Indictment states that the MEJA is the jurisdictional basis for the acts alleged to have occurred in Japan in Counts Two and Three. (Doc. 57 at ¶¶ 5-12). Defendant asserts that because the MEJA is unconstitutional both facially and as applied, the Superseding Indictment (Doc. 57) should be dismissed.
Before delving into Defendant’s argument, the Court must address a disconnect between Defendant’s Motion (Docs. 37, 38, 66) and the Superseding Indictment (Doc. 57). While Counts Two and Three expressly rely upon the MEJA for jurisdiction (see Doc. 57 at ¶¶ 5-12), Count One of the Superseding Indictment — the Count not found in the original Indictment (compare Doc. 1 with Doc. 57) — does not appear to use the MEJA as its jurisdictional basis but rather appears to rest on the jurisdictional hook contained in the predicate criminal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2423(c) and (e). (Doc. 57 at ¶¶ 3-4). Defendant’s Motion (Docs. 37, 38, 66) is silent as to § 2423, and thus seems to concede that Count One is proper and should not be dismissed. (See generally Docs. 37, 38, 66). 3 However, given the applicability of Defendant’s Sixth Amendment compulsory process and venue arguments to § 2423, the Court will analyze Count One in light of Defendant’s Sixth Amendment arguments.
Defendant asserts three grounds for the unconstitutionality of the MEJA, two of which the Court will also apply to 18 U.S.C. § 2423. First, applied only to the MEJA, Defendant argues that Congress improperly extended beyond its enumerated powers in enacting the MEJA. (Doc. 37 at 6-7; Doc. 38 at 1-5). Defendant asserts that none of the provisions of Article I or Article III of the Constitution permit Congress’s attempt at extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction as embodied in the MEJA. (Id.). Second, Defendant contends that the MEJA (and § 2423) violates his Sixth Amendment right “to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor,” U.S. Const, amend. VI, because “this Court’s power to compel the presence of those witnesses located in Japan simply does not exist.” (Doc. 37 at 8; see also Doc. 37 at 1-15). Third, Defendant argues that the MEJA (and § 2423) violates the venue provision of the Sixth Amendment. (Doc. 37 at 1,11-12, 15).
The Government’s Memorandum in Opposition (Doc. 41) contends that the MEJA is a proper exercise of Congress’s power under the Constitution, and that the MEJA (and § 2423) does not violate Defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights to compulsory process and venue. (Doc. 41 at 7-29). Therefore, the Government argues that Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment (Doc. 37) should be denied.
The Court finds no merit in Defendant’s advocated grounds for dismissal. The Court will first address Defendant’s facial challenge to the MEJA vis-a-vis Congress’s enumerated powers, followed by his as-applied challenge to the MEJA (and § 2423) vis-a-vis his Sixth Amendment rights to compulsory process and venue. The Court’s conclusion is to deny Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 37).
1. Congress’s Extraterritorial Powers
Defendant asserts that Congress lacked constitutional authority under any of its enumerated powers to enact the MEJA, allegedly rendering the MEJA unconstitutional on its face. Such a “facial challenge
*1317
to a legislative Act is, of course, the most difficult challenge to mount successfully, since the challenger must establish that no set of circumstances exists under which the Act would be valid.”
United States v. Salerno,
Defendant’s focus on Congress’s enumerated powers in the context of the MEJA, however, is misplaced. No doubt, Defendant advances his argument on the notion that “the federal government can exercise no powers except those specifically enumerated in the Constitution, and such implied powers as are necessary and proper to carry into effect the enumerated powers.”
United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.,
The only question regarding Congress’s seemingly expansive extraterritorial authority is “[wjhether Congress has in fact exercised that authority” in enacting a particular statute, such as the
*1318
MEJA.
Plummer,
The Court finds that Congress clearly intended the MEJA to apply extra-territorially. It would be ludicrous to argue that a statute entitled the “Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act,” which expressly criminalizes certain “conduct outside the United States,” 18 U.S.C. 3261(a), lacks clear Congressional intent for extraterritorial effect. Defendant concedes the point, stating that “the Act under which [Defendant’s] case was brought into this Court is absolutely unambiguous in its intent to reach onto foreign soil.” (Doc. 37 at 13). To erase any doubt, the MEJA’s legislative history contains a plethora of references to extraterritoriality. See H.R.Rep. No. 106-778, pt. 1 (2000).
Before finding the MEJA to be a proper exercise of Congress’s extraterritorial power, however, the Court must “consider whether [giving extraterritorial effect to the penal statute] would violate general principles of international law.”
MacAllister,
The Government proposes that the MEJA as applied to Defendant is consistent with all but the “protective” principle of international law. (Doc. 41 at 13). The Court finds that extraterritorial jurisdiction is permitted by all but the “universal” principle of international law. Although not occurring immediately, Defendant’s alleged actions in Japan produced some effect in the United States upon the alleged victim’s return to Georgia, thus satisfying the objective territorial principle.
See United States v. Neil,
Because Congress clearly intended the MEJA to be applied extraterritorially, and because such extraterritorial application of the MEJA would not offend international law, the Court finds that the MEJA is a proper application of Congress’s extraterritorial power. Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment (Doc. 37) is DENIED to the extent Defendant asserts that the MEJA is an improper application of Congress’s legislative authority.
2. Sixth Amendment Compulsory Process in Extraterritorial Cases
Defendant argues that, as applied to him, the MEJA (and 18 U.S.C. § 2423) violates his Sixth ■ Amendment right “to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor,” U.S. Const, amend. VI, because this Court possesses no subpoena power over foreign witnesses. While it is true that “the United States courts lack power to subpoena witnesses! ] (other than American citizens) from foreign countries,”
United States v. Zabaneh,
First, the Court finds no violation of Defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to compulsory process because, as stated by the Fifth Circuit, the “constitutionally protected right of compulsory process ... does not ordinarily extend beyond the boundaries of the United States.”
Zabaneh,
Second, the Supreme Court observes that “the Sixth Amendment does not by its terms grant to a criminal defendant the right to secure the attendance and testimony of any and all witnesses: it guarantees him ‘compulsory process for obtaining
witnesses in his favor.’ ” United States v. Valenzuela-Bernal,
Because the Court finds that the MEJA (and § 2423), as applied to Defendant, does not violate Defendant’s right to Sixth Amendment compulsory process, Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment (Doc. 37) is DENIED to the extent Defendant asserts the same.
*1321 3. Sixth Amendment Venue in Extraterritorial Cases
Finally, Defendant argues that, as applied to him, the MEJA (and 18 U.S.C. § 2423) violates his Sixth Amendment right to trial in “the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law.” U.S. Const, amend. VI. Defendant asserts that because the alleged crimes occurred in Japan, venue is constitutionally improper in the Middle District of Georgia. (Doc. 37 at 11-12). The Court finds Defendant’s argument unavailing.
“The Constitution, the Sixth Amendment, and Rule 18 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure guarantee defendants the right to be tried in the district in which the crime was committed.”
United States v. Breitweiser,
The Court also finds that venue is proper in the Middle District of Georgia. The Superseding Indictment alleges that “[t]he conduct alleged in this Indictment occurred outside the jurisdiction of any particular State or District and within the venue of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, as provided by 18 U.S.C. Section 3238.” (Doc. 57 at ¶ 1). Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3238, Congress has provided that:
The trial of all offenses begun or committed ... elsewhere out of the jurisdiction of any particular State or district, shall be in the district in which the offender ... is arrested or is first brought; but if such offender ... [is] not so arrested or brought into any district, an indictment or information may be filed in the district of the last known residence of the offender....
18 U.S.C. § 3238;
see U.S. v. Stickle,
Because the Court finds that the MEJA (and § 2423), as applied to Defendant, does not violate Defendant’s right to venue under the Sixth Amendment, and because the Court finds venue in this District to be proper, Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment (Doc. 37) is DENIED to the extent Defendant asserts the same.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Defendant DWAIN D. WILLIAMS’S Motion to Dismiss Indictment (Doc. 37) is DENIED.
Notes
. The alleged facts relevant to the Court’s decision on the instant Motion (Doc. 37) are derived from the Superseding Indictment (Doc. 57) and Statement of Facts provided in the Government’s Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Indictment. (Doc. 41 at 1-6). Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Indictment (Doc. 37) and Addendum thereto (Doc. 38) glean few facts.
. The House Report is available online at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/ getdoc.cgi?dbname= 106_cong_reports& *1316 docid=f:hr778pl.106.pdf (last visited June 30, 2010).
. Should Defendant wish to raise a facial challenge to 18 U.S.C. § 2423(c), the Court merely observes the lack of success in such a venture met by the defendant in
United States v. Strevell,
. H.R.Rep. No. 106-778, pt. 1, at 14 (2000) (“Pursuant to clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the committee finds the authority for this legislation in Article I, section 8, clauses 10, 14, 16, and 18 of the Constitution.”).
. In
Bonner v. City of Prichard,
. “The objective territorial principle applies where the defendant’s actions either produced some effect in the United States, or where he was part of a conspiracy in which any conspirator's overt acts were committed within the United States’ territory.”
MacAllister,
. "[T]he 'nationality’ principle ... permits a state to exercise criminal jurisdiction over one of its nationals.”
Plummer,
. "Under the [protective principle], jurisdiction is based on whether the national interest is injured.”
United States v. Benitez,
. According to Eleventh Circuit precedent, "[c]ustody of the offender gives jurisdiction under [the universality] principle.”
Rivard,
. "[U]nder the [passive personality principle], jurisdiction is based on the nationality or national character of the victim.”
Benitez,
.
See also United States v. Paracha,
No. 03 CR. 1197(SHS),
