Anyone who has been stationed at Osan, AFB Korea knows that the Songtan Entertainment District (SED) right outside the main gate is the place to hang out, drink, and often lose your rank and career. Every Airman knows this, but on any given Friday or Saturday night you can see the SED packed with intoxicated Airmen looking for soju kettles and love. One this night, an Air Force Tech Sergeant found the soju kettle, love, and a sexual assault allegation all in one night.
The night started out with Korean bbq, beer and soju and fell apart from there. The Tech Sergeant ended up at one of the clubs and met up with a female Airman who was also drinking hard that night. The two kept the party going until the bars were closing then went back onto base together, jumped in a taxi and went back to her dorm room.
In the dorm room, they had fully consensual sex and while the Tech Sergeant was having sex with her from the “doggy style” position, something she was requesting, his penis apparently slipped into her anus. This was clearly a no go for her, and she immediately told him to stop and not try to have anal sex with her. He apologized then continued having sex with her vaginally and climaxed shortly after that and left her room.
The following morning, she woke up and claimed she was sexually assaulted, and that the anal penetration was non-consensual, and she did not want any sexual intercourse after that. The case was then turned over to OSI and investigated. The Tech Sergeant was later criminally charged at a general court martial.
After charges were preferred, he retained Korea court martial attorney Tim Bilecki. Bilecki read through the OSI ROI and immediately realized that this was a case of consent or mistake of fact as to consent. The only sex acts that were contested were the ones after she asked him to stop after the attempted anal sex. We knew with a good preliminary hearing officer, that that case might not make it past the Article 32. Bilecki flew to Korea for the Article 32 hearing and put on a defense of consent and mistake of fact as to consent and maintained that the allegations did not meet the low threshold of probable cause.
The Article 32 hearing officer concurred and drafted a report stating that the case did not meet the probable cause standard. The charges were then withdrawn and dismissed.
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