Sexual assault claims among military service members are alarmingly high. According to the 2018 Department of Defense Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military, 20,500 active-duty service members reported experiencing sexual assault or rape, including about 13,000 women and 7,500 men. This indicates that 6.2 percent of female and 0.7 percent of male service … Read more
Sexual assaults committed by someone in the general population often give rise to criminal prosecutions, which may result in fines, jail time, probation, and sanctions against the offender, if convicted. There are similar repercussions in the military, where sexual assaults are punishable under Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Sentences may … Read more
Courts-martial are military courts that try the serious offenses of accused service members. As in civilian courts, a jury sits in on most court-martial cases. However, the selection process differs greatly, especially for Article 120 cases addressing sexual assault and rape. Learn about the differences and how a military defense attorney can help ensure you … Read more
On December 10, 2020, the US Supreme Court ruled that military rape cases occurring between 1986 and 2006 are no longer subject to a statute of limitations. This 20-year legal gray area has fluctuated between having and not having legal time limits for rape cases several times in recent years. What is a Statute of … Read more
In United States v. Gilpin, the sexual assault conviction is reversed by the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA). According to the CCA’s review, the conviction was based primarily on testimonies from the alleged victim, which were deemed “factually insufficient.” The victim claimed they had been unconscious due to heavy intoxication while the accused sexually assaulted them, … Read more
The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) recently deemed Colonel Wilson’s child sex abuse conviction to be factually insufficient, with a focus on inconsistent testimonies from the six-year-old child who alleged the abuse. Not only did the CCA question the validity of the conviction, but it did so with multi-thousand-word opinion piece rarely seen before in … Read more
On September 5th, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) ultimately agreed to reverse the original sexual assault conviction in the Navy case of United States v. Barry. However, the process to undo that conviction and reach a new conclusion is largely contested, with the CAAF split as to how to decide and … Read more
In United States v. Schloff, 74 M.J. 312 (CAAF 2015), the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) maintained the definitions of sexual contact in military criminal justice settings. In particular, it held sexual contact described in Article 120 (g)(2) can be defined by body-to-body contact and/or object-to-body contact. Perhaps more importantly, though, it and the Army … Read more