Military Defense Lawyer (Former JAG Attorney)
News:
Recently, a senior military officer defended by attorney Richard
V. Stevens (Military Defense Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens, P.C.) had the
sexual assault of a minor court-martial case he faced dismissed and dropped by
the military in the middle of trial (UCMJ Article 120).
When the allegations were
made, the senior officer client was in the midst of a protracted and bitter
divorce and custody dispute. His former
wife sought full custody of their children, and not only refused shared custody,
she refused to comply with the court-ordered shared child custody plan. She amassed thousands of dollars of fines
from the civilian family court as she refused to comply, to the point that she
claimed serious financial problems because of them.
In the midst of this custody
fight, the former wife began to claim the client sexually abused their oldest daughter. The daughter was interviewed multiple times
by child abuse experts, and did not back up these claims. However, as the custody fight dragged on and
the daughter got older and became a “tween” and young teen, she took her
mother’s side in the custody fight. At
that point, the daughter/complainant was openly disagreeing with her father’s
rules and she didn’t want to stay with her father far away from her friends and
her life with her mother. In messages to
her father, she made it clear that she did not want to live with him because of
his rules, and she mentioned nothing about alleged sexual abuse. Despite multiple previous professional interviews
denying abuse, the teen complainant began to agree with her mother’s
allegations that the accused military officer sexually abused her. However, there were few details about alleged
events that were given; instead, there were vague, conclusory claims that “He
sexually abused me over the years” and “I want to live with my mother.”
Civilian child abuse and
law enforcement professionals who interviewed and dealt with the mother and her
teen daughter repeatedly talked to them about concerns that the mother was
coaching and manipulating the complainant, and these concerns were documented. Still, the mother and teen daughter
persisted. Their statements to
professionals contained many inconsistencies and troublingly obvious statements
that this would be used by the mother to gain full custody of the children.
Despite these sexual abuse
claims, the civilian family court did not change the custody arrangement,
likely due to the lack of credibility of the mother’s civilian court testimony,
as compared to what was documented in the professional record. The mother and daughter then came to the
military, made the abuse claims to the military, got a no-contact order prohibiting
contact between the accused military officer and his daughter, and then – after
years of fighting about custody – the civilian family court scheduled to make a
final custody determination based on the outcome of the military criminal
case. The mother and daughter’s motives were
clear and obvious.
The military charged the
accused senior officer with child sexual abuse, and the case proceeded to an
Article 32 hearing. The Article 32
hearing was presided over by a military judge, serving as Preliminary Hearing Officer
(PHO). The PHO was highly critical of
the credibility and motives of the teen complainant and her mother. However, despite the PHO’s analysis, the
military proceeded to trial against the accused military senior officer.
Just prior to trial, the
complainant finally made a sexual abuse allegation that contained details about
date, time, and location. While this was
a new allegation against the accused that the complainant never made before –
despite numerous prior professional interviews – this new allegation at least
contained details that could be attacked by the defense.
At trial, the first
witness called by the government was the teen complainant. During her direct testimony, she generally
claimed she had been sexually abused by the accused over the years, and then
she specifically described the one incident that she had raised right before
trial. Based on the details of that
incident, that it occurred on the night of a specific event, she could not claim
the date was not exact or might be wrong.
When the defense cross-examination began, the complainant was confronted
with text messages she sent that night that directly contradicted her
allegation. The text messages she
exchanged with her father that night proved that she was not even with her
father that night, as she claimed.
When she was confronted
with her own text messages, she became upset and left the witness stand. She said she was going to quit the case. As we waited for confirmation that she would
not continue, she changed her mind and took the witness stand again. We started cross-examination again for a few
more minutes. The teen complainant
claims she has multiple personality disorder (dissociative identity
disorder). So, when she took the witness
stand again, she claimed she was confused about that incident because she was
not the complainant at all, she was testifying as a male psychological “alter,”
one of 25 alters in her head. At that
point, still early in the defense trial cross-examination, the trial was
recessed again to address the witness claiming she was not (psychologically)
the girl named as the alleged victim on the charge sheet, she was an older boy “alter.”
What followed was a series
of motion hearings and many details that are not necessary to recount for this blog
post. Ultimately, the Convening
Authority dismissed the case against the accused with prejudice. The case was dropped in the middle of trial
cross-examination. This circus case was
finally over for the accused, at least in the military.
Had there been a
court-martial trial and sex crime conviction in this case, the military officer
client could have been sentenced to a punitive discharge, a lengthy term of
confinement in prison (possibly decades) and, in addition, he would have been
required to register as a sex offender. His retirement would have
been lost, and his future employment, education, and social opportunities would
be destroyed. Thankfully, the truth was
exposed, the court-martial case was dropped, and the military senior officer
client was spared this risk of devastation to his future.
While this military court-martial
and sexual assault case was successfully defended, it is important to
understand that every case has different facts, and success in previous cases
does not guarantee success in any particular future case. No
military lawyer or civilian defense lawyer, including those who specialize in
military law, can guarantee the outcome of any military trial or case.
For more information about
the military justice system, particularly cases alleging rape and/or sexual
assault in violation of UCMJ Article 120, type "rape" or "sexual
assault" into the search bar above the blog posts and see:
https://militaryadvocate.com/military-offenses/sex-crimes/
We offer free
consultations for a case you may be involved in. Just call us.
Thank you.
By: Attorney Richard V. Stevens
Civilian criminal defense lawyer and military
defense lawyer
Military Defense Law Offices of Richard V.
Stevens, P.C.
https://militaryadvocate.com/
Blog postscript: I
(attorney Richard V. Stevens) am a former active duty military lawyer (JAG). My
perspectives and advice, therefore, are based upon my experience as military
defense lawyer and as a civilian criminal defense lawyer practicing exclusively
in the area of military law and military justice. This blog addresses issues in
military law, military justice, military discipline, military defense,
court-martial practice, the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and other
military and/or legal topics. Nothing posted in this blog should be
substituted for legal advice in any particular case. If you seek legal advice
for a particular case, please contact The Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens for
a free consultation. These military defense law offices are located in the
Washington DC, Northern Virginia, Maryland, National Capital Region (NCR), but
the military defense representation is worldwide – when necessary, the
attorneys travel to wherever the client is stationed around the world.
