Female airman charged after refusing to testify in rape case

raytri · #1 (**permalink**) 08-08-2007, 06:12 PM

Does this make sense to anyone?
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5034202.html

Quote:

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.

(snip)

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.

One can speculate that the military has more information than is presented here -- like, say, she accused the men of rape to avoid getting into trouble for a consensual act. But then I'd expect her to be charged with making a false accusation, and she wasn't.

I can understand not prosecuting the men after she refused to testify; but granting them immunity so she can be prosecuted? Huh?

JP5 · #2 (**permalink**) 08-08-2007, 07:07 PM

I'd say that she probably lied about the whole thing.

justabubba · #3 (**permalink**) 08-08-2007, 07:12 PM

ray, i too, was initially stunned that a woman who may have been raped by these three airmen is now being court martialed for the sexual acts she perfomed on these now immune "victims".

but then i realized that during this difficult period to recruit young men into the service what could serve as a better recruitment enticement than for them to know they will be able to sexually assault the female GIs and be safe ... because those women rape victims will now realize they will be prosecuted if they say anything.

machiavelli could not have conceived of a more sinister, yet effective recruitment mechanism

raytri · #4 (**permalink**) 08-08-2007, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JP5";p=&quot

I'd say that she probably lied about the whole thing.

Then why hasn't she been charged with filing false charges?

raytri · #5 (**permalink**) 08-08-2007, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justabubba";p=&quot

machiavelli could not have conceived of a more sinister, yet effective recruitment mechanism

Uh, yeah -- unless your goal included ever recruiting women.

That's a little silly, justabubba.

The12thMan · #6 (**permalink**) 08-08-2007, 08:23 PM

Quote:

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.

There's got to be a lot we don't know. I can only think of one possible scenario in which these charges make sense. That is if they have good reason to believe she planned the whole thing in order to file false rape charges. If that was the case, they would try to convict her of something which would force her to register as a sex offender. Simply filing a false report wouldn't rise to that level.

stekim · #7 (**permalink**) 08-09-2007, 04:05 AM

This one is a head scratcher. Maybe she is being punished for reporting a crime and having everyone work the case, only to later refuse to testify. Maybe it was consensual. The story is quite vague.

JavaBlack · #8 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 09:32 AM

http://www.washingtontimes.com/artic...108070090/1002
Even the Washington Post lacks details. Looks like it's very hush-hush.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/0...xcase_070813w/
This one gives details...

Sounds to me like she could have been raped... and definitely thinks she was... and like most raped women, got stressed and decided to run from it all.
Sounds like the guys are probably doing this for revenge. Hard to tell whether they actually raped or not, but I think they might be doing this as a nasty retaliation either way.
And it seems to me the air force is trying to keep it on the downlow.

Since it seems she didn't lie and no such charges are there and it seems she at least thinks she was raped, this is SICK.

raytri · #9 (**permalink**) 09-14-2007, 10:35 AM

Update: the Air Force decided not to court-martial her:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070914/...xPNAjbjNBH2ocA

Quote:

The Air Force has dropped a criminal indecency charge filed against a female airman who refused to testify against another airman she had accused of rape, her lawyer said Friday.

The commander of the 43rd Airlift Wing at Pope Air Force Base decided this week to drop the indecency charge, which alleged sex in the presence of others, said Capt. Chris Eason, an attorney for Airman 1st Class Cassandra Hernandez.

Hernandez' attorneys have said they believed the charge was filed in retaliation for her refusal to testify.

The 20-year-old had been scheduled for a Sept. 24 court-martial and could have faced up to a year in prison. Instead, Hernandez pleaded guilty to underaged drinking and received a nonjudicial punishment, Eason said.

JavaBlack · #10 (**permalink**) 09-19-2007, 10:06 AM

sounds more like a plea bargain than letting it go...

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