## Facts

- Howard Martin Reagan, a U.S. citizen and crew member on a U.S.-flag vessel, killed another crew member while the ship was docked in the territorial waters of the Federal Republic of Germany.
- German authorities conducted a limited investigation but did not prosecute Reagan, and he returned to the United States.
- During the U.S. investigation, a federal district court issued a letter rogatory to a German court requesting Reagan’s German police file.
- German authorities transmitted the police file in response to the letter rogatory.
- U.S. prosecutors also developed substantial additional evidence independent of the German materials.
- Reagan was indicted in federal court, tried, and convicted for the killing.

## Issues

1. Whether a federal district court has authority to issue a letter rogatory to a foreign court in aid of a criminal investigation before indictment and without a pending case in the district court.
2. Whether the United States may exercise criminal jurisdiction over a U.S. citizen’s homicide aboard a U.S.-flag vessel located in German territorial waters, given Germany’s investigation and decision not to prosecute.

## Decision

- The Sixth Circuit affirmed the conviction.
- The court rejected Reagan’s claim that the district court lacked power to issue the pre-indictment letter rogatory for lack of an active “case or controversy.”
- The court sustained federal criminal jurisdiction over the offense committed aboard a U.S.-flag vessel in foreign territorial waters, notwithstanding Germany’s limited investigative actions and nonprosecution.

## Legal Principles

- A federal court may use a letter rogatory to obtain foreign evidence in support of a concrete criminal investigation even if an indictment has not yet been returned.
- The United States may prosecute U.S. nationals for serious offenses committed aboard U.S.-flag vessels, including when the vessel is within a foreign state’s territorial waters.
- A territorial sovereign’s limited investigation and decision not to prosecute does not, without more, bar prosecution by the flag state or nationality state where both have concurrent jurisdiction.

## Conclusion

The Sixth Circuit left Reagan’s conviction intact, holding that the district court could validly seek foreign evidence through a pre-indictment letter rogatory and that the United States had jurisdiction to prosecute a homicide committed by a U.S. crew member aboard a U.S.-flag vessel in German waters despite Germany’s nonprosecution.


United States v. Reagan, 453 F.2d 165 (6th Cir. 1971)