News & Politics - Female airman charged after not testifying about her rape

elisheva · 08-09-2007, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Female airman charged after refusing to testify in her rape case

© 2007 The Associated Press

POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. — A court-martial is scheduled next month for a female airman who said she was charged after refusing to testify against three male airmen she accused of rape.

The woman is charged with one count of committing indecent acts and one count of consuming alcohol as a minor, said base spokesman Ed Drohan. The men received nonjudicial punishments and were granted immunity for their testimony in the woman's trial, according to documents provided by the woman's military defense attorneys.

"The whole thing is a system failure," said Capt. Christopher A. Eason, one of the woman's lawyers. "This is unprecedented."

The military declined to identify the men or confirm whether they were ever charged because the case is pending, Drohan said. He said military rules prohibit further discussion of the case but said "the Air Force is not attempting to cover up any wrongdoing."

The Associated Press generally does not identify possible victims of sexual assault.

In letters dated June 7 to the congressional delegations and governors of North Carolina and Texas, her native state, the woman said she decided not to testify against the three men because she was "under enormous stress."

She said she was attacked in another airman's barracks room the night of May 12, 2006, and was partially clothed when she fled the room. She said she reported the incident and received a medical examination.

In her letter, she also said the three male airmen were charged with rape but the charges were dropped after she refused to testify. The woman said she was questioned by the men's defense lawyer without her victim's advocate present, which her lawyers said was a violation of military justice policy.

"The pressure of the judicial process was too much for me, and I felt like no one was looking out for my interests," the woman wrote.

The charges allege she performed an indecent act on one man while the other two were witnesses, defense lawyers said.

A court-martial has been scheduled for Sept. 24 at the air base adjacent to Fort Bragg, Drohan said, and it will be open to the public.

If convicted on both counts, the woman could face up to a year in jail, reduction in rank, a cut in pay in allowances, a possible bad conduct discharge and be required to register as a sex offender, her defense lawyers said.

Drohan said he didn't know the maximum sentence.

"This is the wrong message to send to women in the military," said Capt. Omar S. Ashmawy, one of her military defense attorneys.

More here (worth reading).

This is so beyond horrible. :/

GhostWriter · 08-09-2007, 09:03 PM

It really makes you wonder what the hell the people in control of all of this could possibly be thinking.

bicpen · 08-10-2007, 02:15 PM

i heard about this yesterday... it's so messed up. how do we let things like this slide?

Indian Summer · 08-10-2007, 04:28 PM

Hmm. I'm kind of torn. Obviously, I don't think the way they're handling the situation is right, but it seems like the case hung entirely on her testimony (unless I missed something about forensic/DNA evidence). If that's the case and she refused to testify, the charges would have to be dropped and those men- even though they technically aren't guilty of the rape in a legal sense- would face difficulty and disrespect in their posts, and there's also the danger of reoffending. I just wish they'd found a better way to handle this.

elisheva · 08-10-2007, 06:19 PM

The problem is more that she's now being charged herself with "committing indecent acts."

Indian Summer · 08-10-2007, 09:43 PM

I'm certainly not supporting what they did, but military law is different than civilian, and it seems like her lawyer should've seen this coming. I wish I could say I was surprised by all this, but I'm really not- horrified, most definitely, but if she refused to testify that she was raped, and there was no evidence to support that claim, the story becomes she participated in a lewd act in an inappropriate place. Her lawyer failed her here as much as the system did.


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