An Army E-4 stationed at Schofield Barracks was facing charges of sexual assault, forcible sodomy, and simple assault by an ex-girlfriend. The government spared no expense to see him convicted, putting three prosecutors on the case, one of whom was a Special Victim’s Prosecutor and “highly qualified expert,” to bolster the prosecution’s team.
Our client was initially defended by military defense lawyers from the JAG Corp. But they quickly folded under pressure from the government’s overwhelming resources. They suggested to our client that he take the first plea deal offered, which would have resulted in a federal conviction, jail time and dishonorable discharge.
Not willing to accept such a raw deal, the accused hired our law firm to fight for his rights. We immediately requested a subpoena of exculpatory Facebook messages, a routine procedure that the government denied. Undeterred, we fought the government until Facebook messages were allowed into evidence. These messages told a story of a spurned lover who refused to accept that our client was unwilling to take the relationship “to the next level.”
The relationship ended, but not before our client’s ex-girlfriend begged him to have sex with her “one last time.” Our client rebuffed her requests. Soon afterward, allegations of rape were made against him. She claimed that on one occasion, our client’s alcoholism caused her to fear for her life and freeze up during sex, making it impossible for her to consent.
Despite the fact that the government had all of those facts and even knew what the Facebook messages said, they went forward with prosecuting the case, going so far as to hire a clinical psychologist to testify at trial. We managed to get the prosecution’s own psychologist to assist the defense, who folded under cross-examination and finally confessed that she did not use “common sense” to figure out whether the alleged victim’s story was true.
Additionally, we played the entirety of the “confession” to the members because the government only showed a portion of it and wanted to cherry-pick what the jury could or could not see. This was more than enough for the jury, who acquitted our client of all the charges and specifications.
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