ELLEN OZIER/REUTERS
Fix the system.
An expected plea bargain that would end the sexual assault trial of Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair, the highest-ranking officer ever to face such charges, vividly illustrates the urgent need for fundamental reform of the military justice system.
Sinclair reportedly will admit that he had treated a female captain in a way that “reasonably could have caused mental harm or suffering during the course of an ongoing inappropriate sexual relationship.” Her accusation that Sinclair had forced her to perform sexual acts would be dropped.
The judge, Col. James Pohl, halted the proceedings last week, citing indications that commanders had improperly influenced prosecutors to press the case in order to appear tough on sexual assaults in the military in a heated political climate.
The picture strongly indicates that the brass pushed prosecutors to proceed despite their own doubts about proving the case against Sinclair.
Emails belatedly turned over to the defense showed that military officials questioned the accuser’s credibility after she appeared to have provided misinformation about key evidence.
Still more, a Pentagon lawyer found the prosecutor, Col. William Helixon, crying and apparently suicidal about having to continue with the case, rather than enter a plea bargain with Sinclair.
And, referring to legislation supported by New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand that would shift jurisdiction over sexual assaults from the chain of command to independent prosecutors, a military lawyer wrote to a top general:
“Allowing the accused to characterize this relationship as a consensual affair would only strengthen the arguments of those individuals that believe the prosecution of sexual assault should be taken away from the Army.”
The Pentagon has been under intense pressure to crack down on an epidemic of sexual abuse and harassment, including a spate of such ugly acts by the very officers charged with conducting the effort. Evidence that commanders often go easy on complaints generated heated calls for stringent enforcement.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who has pushed through less-sweeping reforms while stymieing Gillibrand’s efforts, said that Sinclair “would likely be off the hook for an alleged sexual assault which both military commanders and prosecutors believe occurred” if Gillibrand had gotten her way.
McCaskill’s insistence that prosecutors believed Sinclair’s accuser highlights that the military system for handling sexual assault allegations is thoroughly discredited. Its prosecutors cannot be trusted to proceed on behalf of accusers based solely on the facts and the law — or to move against the accused on the same basis.
Placing authority in independent prosecutors and outside of the chain of command — as Canada, Israel and German have done — would clear the murk that has kept victims from justice and the accused from fair trial.
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