Female combat vets report more assaults
The study found that 2.1 percent of the military women surveyed reported in an anonymous survey that they experienced some form of sexual assault during the prior three-year period. Yet that rate was almost twice as high, 4 percent, among women who said they had deployed and experienced combat, the study found.
Read more: http://www.armytimes.com/article/20131006/NEWS05/310060009/Female-combat-vets-report-more-assaults
Suspect jailed after allegedly strangling one man to death, stabbing another
RAISIN TWP. — A 31-year-old soldier on leave from the U.S. Army is lodged at the Lenawee County Jail after he allegedly strangled a man to death and stabbed another in the shoulder Saturday morning at 2985 Gady Road, Lot 63, in Raisin Township, according to the Michigan State Police. The deceased victim is a 20-year-old man from Adrian. The second victim is an 18-year-old man from Adrian who was treated for lacerations and released.
Read more: http://www.lenconnect.com/article/20131005/NEWS/131009586
Police: Soldier held after 1 killed, 2nd stabbed
RAISIN TOWNSHIP, MICH. — Michigan State Police say a 31-year-old soldier on leave from the U.S. Army is jailed after a man was strangled to death and another stabbed in the shoulder.
Oregon guardsman guilty of raping 11-year-old girl
BEND, ORE. — An Oregon National Guard soldier from Bend has been convicted of raping his fellow guardsman’s 11-year-old daughter.
The Bend Bulletin reports that 35-year-old Florentino Allen Valdez hung his head after Judge Stephen Forte returned the guilty verdict Wednesday, and cried as he left the courtroom.
Former Carson soldier pleads guilty in infant stepson’s death
Zachary Ryan Doggett pleaded guilty to fatal child abuse on Wednesday under a plea agreement with prosecutors. The Gazette reported that Doggett’s voice cracked as he told the judge the decision to plead guilty was “mine and mine alone.”
Fort Hood trial cost government about $5 million
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — The U.S. government spent nearly $5 million to court-martial and convict an Army psychiatrist in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage, according to records reviewed by a North Texas television station.
The biggest pre-trial expense in Maj. Nidal Hasan’s trial was more than $1 million for transportation for witnesses, jurors and attorneys, according to Army records obtained by KXAS-TV of Fort Worth and Dallas. About $90,000 was spent to house the witnesses.
Former GI gets 30 years in Polk soldier’s death
LAKE CHARLES, LA. — A 28-year-old Army veteran, who pleaded guilty in June to second-degree murder in the 2010 slaying of a soldier at Fort Polk, has been sentenced in federal court in Lake Charles.
KPLC-TV reports Marcus Carey was sentenced Tuesday to 30 years in prison in the death of Byron Whitcomb, of Whitefish, Mont., and for the attempted murder of another soldier, Howard Alley.
Support for Senator Gillibrand’s approach is building. Far from stripping commanders of accountability, as some critics have suggested, removing prosecution decisions in sexual assault and other serious crimes from the chain of command would not undermine discipline or end commanders’ responsibility to set the proper climate.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/opinion/broken-military-justice.html?_r=0
Is the chain of command interfering with justice in military sexual assault cases?
In the military, the chain of command is the foundation of discipline and order, but in recent months, legislators and many members of the military have become concerned that it’s become an obstacle to prosecuting claims of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Opponents of the current system think it intimidates victims from bringing claims to senior officers, while proponents see the military’s system as more than adequate in ensuring a fair process.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been building support for her proposed legislation which would remove commanding officers from being the final arbiter of sexual harassment and assault cases, but opponents argue that the current system insures trials that are fair and balanced.
How important is preserving the chain of command? And should sexual assault cases be held to different criteria in military courts?
Listen here: http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2013/09/23/33845/is-the-chain-of-command-interfering-with-justice-i/
Naval Academy superintendent doesn’t have to recuse himself from sexual assault case
A federal judge on Monday denied an attempt to force the superintendent of the Naval Academy to recuse himself from a case of alleged sexual assault by three former Navy football players.
The victim of the alleged assault — a 21-year-old female midshipman — had filed a federal lawsuit seeking an injunction that would require the academy’s superintendent, Vice Adm. Michael H. Miller, to give up authority over the case. Miller is responsible for deciding whether the three accused midshipmen should face courts-martial, the military equivalent of trials.
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 