Justia Military Law Opinion Summaries

The plaintiff, Jose Antonio Cossio, Jr., sought reconsideration of his bad-conduct discharge from the Air Force, which stemmed from court-martial convictions in 2004. Cossio had used his access to an Air Force computer system to reroute another airman’s paycheck to an orphanage in Siberia, leading to his conviction for larceny and violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, among other charges. He was sentenced to ten months of confinement, demotion, a fine, and a bad-conduct discharge. His convictions and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal in the military courts.Cossio has repeatedly challenged his convictions and sentence over the years. In this case, he petitioned for writs of habeas corpus and mandamus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, arguing that his conduct did not meet the elements of larceny and that a Supreme Court decision invalidated his computer fraud conviction. The district court dismissed his petitions, finding that Cossio did not meet the requirements for habeas corpus jurisdiction as he was not “in custody” under 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c) and that he did not meet the essential elements for a writ of mandamus.The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision. The court held that Cossio was not “in custody” as required for habeas corpus jurisdiction because the consequences of his convictions were collateral and did not restrain his physical liberty. Additionally, the court found that Cossio’s petition for a writ of mandamus failed because he did not demonstrate that the Secretary of the Air Force had a clear, nondiscretionary duty to grant the requested relief, nor did he show a clear right to the issuance of the writ. View "Cossio v Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals" on Justia Law