Posted on 06/06/2019 7:13:23 AM PDT by centurion316
Cadet Jacob Whisenhunt, originally a member of the class of 2019 at the academy in West Point, N.Y., was dismissed from the Army and removed from the school after he was convicted of raping a female cadet while she slept in her sleeping bag during a summer field training event on July 7, 2016.
An appellate court threw out the conviction on Monday, citing a lack of evidence to prove the sex wasn’t consensual. A judge concluded the woman did not audibly struggle and Whisenhunt did not attempt to silence her, hide his identity or remove evidence.
“The defense theory was that the appellant and [the victim] engaged in a consensual sexual encounter while taking active measures to avoid detection,” the written decision by three military judges said, according to Military Times.
“In our view, the circumstantial evidence in support of this defense theory severely undercuts the government’s case.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The real story can be found at the Army Times, a Gannett publication which can't be posted here. But, go there to see the real issue which revolves around the current attitude of many JAG officers.
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/06/05/overturned-west-point-rape-case-sends-hugely-negative-message-former-air-force-prosecutor-says/
This article has more detailed information about the actual event.
Foolish Male didnt get his Consensual Biological Relations chit signed, ey?
A few months ago, a youth pastor near here was arrested for supposedly inappropriate touching. He denied all Charges and I thought at the time that he probably was not guilty.
He was fired and went to trial. It took the jury less than a half hour to find him not guilty. Still his life is probably ruined.
The power to ruin someone’s life is a very compelling thing for some young women. Some just can’t stop themselves from showing that they can do it. (see: Miller, Arthur: The Crucible)
I am inclined to agree with the overturn. My advice to him would be get out, this stigma will follow him. I knew James Pelosi, the cadet silenced in the early 70s, and it followed him.
I think the negative message in modern times is that you are doomed as a male if you are accused, unless you can prove your own innocence.
“I believe him” is not in our lexicon. It’s “I believe her”, with no other choice.
And your accuser won’t face any penalty if it turns out you are lying.
Would you like to re-word that sentence?..................
While it does not appear there was evidence to convict him of rape, I would not reinstate him. His need to “get him some” was against regulations and caused a lot of trouble and expense. I think they both should have been kicked out at the time.
Mike Pence is criticized as a bigot and old-fashioned fool for not meeting with women alone - but one thing is for sure: He will never face an accusation of impropriety designed to take him down.
A he-said, she-said. Could have been consensual, but then (1) he pissed her off and she accused him or (2) she knew the word would get out and feared being dismissed from the academy herself, and accused him as self-protection.
Or maybe it was a rape, but it is hard to reconcile the lack of an “audible struggle” and the “assailant” not trying to hide the contact with that.
My guess is that she didn't want to face consequences for having consensual sex in the field when it was found out, so she decided to give him all the consequences, no matter how severe, so that she could walk away from a minor reprimand.
At one of the academies there is a lot of rape by upper classmen. The perps know the underlings won’t file a report because it goes on their record. The attractive ones are targeted - unless of course their father is a admiral or a general.
on whose “record?” The male or female?
I don’t disagree that he should get his life back. But the reality is that he would be finished in the Army.
The moral here is to think twice about sleeping with co-workers when you are on the job. They were on summer field excercises, and this was their job.
As our attorney used to say, there are about 3.1 million people in New England...we are asking that you not have sex with about 300 of them.
It seems like to me there should be no identification of the alleged perpetrator nor victim until conviction and all appeals have been heard. Particularly in cases of university or military courts since they have become too responsive to the latest political pressures.
Bingo!
Putting young men and women together at the peak of hormones is amongst the more idiotic policies our government has done, and that’s saying something. Nothing but trouble.
It’s as if humans need to re-discover basic human nature every generation, even though the basics were observed 5,000 years ago.
And therein lies the MORAL of the story....don’t dip your pen into the company ink.
If I were this young man I would run as far and fast from the Military as I could as this will dog him his entire career and frankly today’s Army or any branch is not your Father’s military ...Its a social experiment gone bad...When they allowed Women,Gays in is when it jumped the tracks..
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