Coast Guard rape conviction overturned after court’s scathing attack on women-packed jury

The Washington Times ^ | January 28, 2018 | Rowan Scarborough

[jazusamo]

The nation’s highest military court has thrown out the 2012 rape conviction of a Coast Guard enlisted man because admirals and prosecutors packed the seven-member jury with five women, four of whom held jobs as advocates for victims of sexual assault.

In a 5-0 ruling that could change how the military conducts sex abuse trials, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces unleashed caustic criticism of all involved.

From the Coast Guard commandant down to an appellate court to the original trial judge, the high court said all contributed to a “stain on the military justice system.” The military has been under intense pressure to wipe out sexual harassment and assault, the five civilian judges noted.

The opinion, delivered by Judge Margaret A. Ryan, said the four admirals who played a role in assembling the officer and enlisted jury pool produced an illegal “gender-based court stacking.” She suggested that the admirals’ role amounted to unlawful command influence, which military law analysts see as the enemy of fair trials for service members.

The court ruling said the trial judge “failed to conduct even a rudimentary investigation” into defense attorneys’ complaints of an unfair jury.

It also said the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals failed in its duty to protect against unlawful command influence as it “rationalized the error away as a benign effort to seek inclusiveness.”

“Yet the error in this case is both so obvious and so egregious that it adversely affected not only Appellant’s right to a fair trial by an impartial panel, but also the essential fairness and integrity of the military justice system,” Judge Ryan and the four other judges wrote.

Even worse, the high court suggested that the enlisted man never would have been convicted by a more gender-proportionate jury...

[OldArmy52]

Women can lie like a Clinton.
Knew well one woman, VERY deceitful, very!
Lie so well, she probably believed her own lies.

Many women should be shrinks they are so manipulative.
Comes with the gender?

[trebb]

Sat in on a Courts Martial some years ago where a guy was accused of raping a girl - he was lucky and got off because she claimed she 'woke up and he was on her"...turns out she, even at age 19, had a history of black-out drinking and witnesses said she was all over him and making it clear she wanted sex...evidently came out of the black out (woke up) and freaked at which time he stopped.

Nothing like heavy use of booze to cause "confusion"....