The Air Force Academy last week announced a decision by Brigadier General Johnny Weida to court-martial Douglas Meester, 20, the first cadet to be tried since the rape scandal erupted last year. Weida's move-counter to a recommendation by investigator Major Todd McDowell not to send the case to trial-was applauded by victim advocates. "Clearly, the fact that the judicial process is moving forward, regardless of the outcome, indicates that these cases are being taken more seriously," Dick Wadhams, spokesman for US Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) told USA Today.
Meester is accused of raping a female cadet last October after she had been drinking with upperclassmen in his dorm. The woman reported the incident to her cadet commander and academy administrators but was instead disciplined for violating rules against having sex with upperclassmen and faced reprimands for illegal drinking, according to the Denver Post.
Should the judge and jury determine that the woman was "asleep, unconscious or intoxicated to the extent that she lacked the mental capacity to consent" to sexual intercourse, Meester could face a maximum sentence of life in prison and dismissal from the Air Force, reported the Denver Post. No trial date has been set.
Media Resources: Reuters 7/2/03; USA Today 7/3/03; Denver Post 7/3/03, 7/6/03; Feminist Daily News Wire
5/22/2013 Immigration Reform Bill Advances In Senate - Last night, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a sweeping immigration reform bill in a bipartisan vote of 13 to 5. . . .
5/22/2013 Afghan Women Arrested for 'Moral Crimes' Increases 50% - A new report by the Human Rights Watch shows that in the past 18 months the number of women in Afghanistan incarcerated for 'moral crimes' has increased from 400 to 600, a 50% growth.
Many of the women imprisoned for moral crimes were arrested running away from forced or abusive marriages and families, even though there is no law against leaving. . . .
5/22/2013 Army Commander Suspended for Adultery Amid Wave of Sexual Assaults - On Tuesday, Brigadier General Bryan T Roberts was suspended from his position as commander of the Fort Jackson, South Carolina training camp which trains approximately 60% of incoming female recruits pending an investigation into allegations of adultery.
Roberts was suspended following allegations of "adultery and a physical altercation." Colonel Christian Kubik, an Army spokesperson for the Training and Doctrine Command, told reporters "We don't have any evidence of any sexual assault. . . .
