U.S. courts have subject-matter jurisdiction over criminal cases where the crimes occurred outside of the country, even when the indictment does not allege a “territorial nexus” to the United States, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected a jurisdictional objection made by a defendant who pleaded guilty in New York in an arms-for-narcotics sting operation out of Honduras and claimed his indictment was fatally flawed because it didn’t outline a connection to the United States.
