United States v. Burke

Military police arrested Michael Steve Burke for driving while intoxicated in the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, a place within the Special Maritime and Territorial Jurisdiction of the United States. Because there is no federal law prohibiting such conduct, he was charged under the Assimilative Crimes Act (ACA), 18 U.S.C. § 13, with violating Maryland Code Annotated [Transportation] § 21-902(a) (1995) (“Driving While Intoxicated”).

Three years later, Burke pled guilty to the offense in the Middle District of Alabama. The magistrate judge sentenced him to one year in prison followed by a…