U.S. Marine pleads not guilty in court-martial over alleged rape

Wednesday 07th May, 12:47 AM JST

IWAKUNI —

A 20-year-old lance corporal pleaded not guilty Tuesday as a court-martial began at the U.S. Marine Corps’ Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture over the alleged gang-rape of a Japanese woman in Hiroshima City last October. The U.S. military began the court-martial for one of the four Marines accused of raping the woman after Japanese law enforcement authorities did not pursue prosecution against them.

The defendant whose court-martial began Tuesday was charged with alleged sexual assault and disobedience in violation of the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice, the Iwakuni base said. He was 19 at the time of the incident.

Courts-martial for the other three are scheduled to begin from later this month to June.

Japanese police sent papers in November to public prosecutors on the four on suspicion of gang raping the woman after meeting her at a dance event and forcing her into a car from the night of Oct 13 to the early hours of Oct 14.

But police did not arrest the four as they saw inconsistencies in the woman’s explanations.

The Hiroshima District Public Prosecutors Office decided not to indict the four Marines.

Latest 15 of 45 Total Comments Show All

Obakemono at 04:08 PM JST - 8th May

rtrhead1, I do not want to generalize but rather put all Marines in one Category because from my prior exposureof their mentality of having to be told and given constatant supervision for every move and step they take I do not have a dislike for all 186,000 Marines but from what these 5 Marines have done in 1 country and such a short period of time I am sure that all the Japanese would place all of the Marines in the same category I only read the Stars and Stripes for the real story and not any of the Japanese Media who seem to enjoy draging any US Military thru the mud just for Headlines Now about my vision past my nose I have dealth with all kind of military personnel because I spent more than 20 years in the Military and spent more than 10 years in both Japan and Okinawa so from my personal knowledge I think I know what kind of people are in the Marines and their display of their BEHAVIOR off duty will not be given any kind of praise from this end and I know for Damm Sure not from the Japanese Now for the score Air Force 1 Navy 1 Army 1 Marines 5 I just hope that the JAG will set an example with these 5 so that their fellow Marines will give some thought before they make any kind of move towards the Locals and those in the mainland (Japan) I just hope you will now understand my viewpoint and I know that there is going to be some bad apples in all the branches of the US Military but from the score right I feel that category and not the Generalizations fit the situation for the time being
rtrhead1 at 08:13 AM JST - 9th May

If you put all Marines into one category THAT IS CALLED GENERALIZING!!! DO YOU NOT HAVE A FIRM GRIP ON REALITY??? How did you get to stay for 20 years? As far as their behavior, they did what, acted like kids who are right around 20 years old? Oh yeah, they are. All the training in the world won't get youth out of you. The few have demonstrated that behavior off duty. I don't know where you came up with that score, but, you need to know that given the choice, S&S and the J-media will gladly put up anything about Marines up before anyone else. Get off your high horse. It doesn't matter what the JAG or God himself does. People will be people, and the only thing we can do is deal with it when it comes up.
rtrhead1 at 08:55 AM JST - 9th May

"During questioning by the defense Wednesday, the woman said she did not loudly object or ask to get out when the four men drove away from a Hiroshima club while she was partially naked in the back seat.

She also said she did not fight the men as they had sex with her because she feared they would beat her.

“I did not choose to resist with my body or voice” although she was being raped, she said through an interpreter."

Straight out of S&S. How in the hell are you supposed to know that a woman doesn't want sex if she doesn't say no, doesn't resist, and doesn't even try to stop? Not to mention that she lied to everyone about what happened through the entire process. Makes it kind of hard to believe anything she had to say.

Here's the link if anyone would like to read the article: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54639
thundercat at 09:16 AM JST - 9th May

Sounds like she was scared of taking a beating from 4 people who are trained to kill. Unless you are a total idiot rapist, you would have to assume 'no' until she says 'yes', especially in a gangbang... how hard is that to understand???? It's becoming more and more clear to me that these guys knew exactly what they were doing and knew exactly how to intimidate this girl into being raped. No more excuses rtrhead1, these guys committed more than one crime and you are only embarrassing yourself by trying to mitigate what they did.
rtrhead1 at 10:27 AM JST - 9th May

Dude, she agreed and first and didn't say no or give any indication otherwise. Give me a break. She didn't even ask not to do anything. Stop making us out to be big bad assassins. If she didn't want it, she would have said SOMETHING, ANYTHING. But she didn't. Now she's playing the sympathy card by saying that she wanted to avoid a beating. That's a crock. If she truly felt she was being raped, she would've either spoken up, tried to resist, or some other form of action. On top of it, she already told the courts that she lied about it. I am not making excuses. SHE IS A LIAR, AND THEY ARE MORONS. Sorry, if you can't believe either side, you can't prove a case. That is why he was found guilty of IMPROPER SEXUAL CONTACT (conduct?) and not rape. She is a liar and a woman of questionable credibility. They are guys who made poor decisions. She needs to stop trying to save face at the expense of these guys' lives (well, kinda late now).
thundercat at 11:02 AM JST - 9th May

So, I'm walking down the street one day and decide to punch someone in the face. I walk up, punch him and get arrested. In court, my defense is, 'He didn't say 'no' I couldn't punch him, so I took that to mean 'yes' I could punch him... is that a viable defense?

You are lying when you assert that at first she agreed to a gangbang. She agreed to have sex with one person, not four. She told the courts that she lied about why she got in the car with ONE person, not why she got in a car with four.

BTW, this is the guy she agreed to have sex with in the first place which is probably why he was found guilty of a lesser charge (and the fact that he is ratting out his buddies is most likely another reason he is getting off lightly). Wait and see what happens with the other three...
thundercat at 11:28 AM JST - 9th May

Gee rtrhead1, I wonder why you didn't mention this in your previous citation of the S&S article:

A clinical psychiatrist who specializes in treating trauma among servicemembers testified Wednesday that the woman’s actions were consistent with those of other trauma victims.

Or this:

Dean noticed the woman’s demeanor changed after she had sex with the first two men but he decided to have sex with her again anyway, Henson said.

“The only thing [Dean] indicated to us is she didn’t want to be having sex,” he said. “She had given up.”

Dean told NCIS that rape was one of his first thoughts after being arrested, Henson said.

SHE HAD GIVEN UP!!! Sounds like she really wanted it. This whole story is making me sick. I hope these guys get what they deserve.
rtrhead1 at 01:58 PM JST - 9th May

Sounds kinda like JT reporting, huh? Again, I don't believe her, she's a liar, but I don't believe the guys, they're morons and possibly liars too. Oh, I know, let's take the easy way out and burn the Marines.
rtrhead1 at 02:01 PM JST - 9th May

As far as the punching thing, if he says yes, you can punch me in the face, but doesn't tell you he doesn't like it if you punch him four times, what happens then? Your comparison doesn't make sense. She said she wanted sex. She lied to the cops and everyone else about god knows what. Maybe it will teach her to tell the truth from now on...
thundercat at 02:07 PM JST - 9th May

Sorry, you were the one that said if she didn't say 'no' then she must have ment 'yes'. Anyway, a better comparsion would have been: me and three buddies want to punch someone. Someone agrees to let me punch them and then my three buddies all take a turn punching them too... even though he only agreed to let me punch him. Is that comparison a little better for you?
rtrhead1 at 10:47 PM JST - 9th May

We could go round and round about the comparisons. Okay, I concede to you that IF she is actually telling the truth about what happened, then yes, they were wrong. Since she has proven and admitted to being a liar, I don't believe any of what she says. Sorry, nothing you, or anyone else says will change my belief on that. Thank god for the freedom to think our own thoughts, huh?
Obakemono at 03:16 AM JST - 10th May

It appears that Your 4 Soon to be Felons / X US Marines didn't use the the correct thought process when they took it upon themselves to Jump on a lady who was afraid of their bull dog tats because she was alone and could not fight these 4 guys off why is it that when a crime commited there is usually 2 or more Marines involved maybe one Marine can not think on his own when it comes to doing something STUPID why do you keep giving these Morons who have Trumaized one more Japanese female such a defense it it because you are a Marine and want to be a Character Witness since you claim that not all Marines are bad Maybe the these 4 and the 1 on Okinawa should be used on the Marine Recruiting Posters since it looks like they are only ones are creating all the Headlines in Japan/okinawa
rtrhead1 at 10:10 AM JST - 10th May

Bro, nobody got jumped. She went out there willingly. The end result may not have been willing IF she was telling the truth. IF. Why do you want to blast the entire Marine Corps for the acts of a few? If the military was so bad why did you stay for 20 years, which I doubt anyways. I am not giving them a defense, I am trying to look at it from both sides. You are trying to immediately convict him on the word of a liar. That is a fact. I am asking you to stop with the stereotyping. I realize that you probably don't understand that word either, but it is the same as generalizing. NOT ALL OF US HAVE BULLDOG TATS. Think about it, Marines generally get into trouble where there are more than one of them because they don't have much fun going out alone.
rtrhead1 at 10:46 AM JST - 10th May

As an aside, the only reason they are the only ones creating headlines in Okinawa is because in okinawa the J-media only chooses to give front page coverage to the morons who are doing stupid stuff. They don't put all the volunteer work that our people do cleaning up the beaches (most of the messes are from the local youths), or when they volunteer their time and money at places like the local orphanages. So, I say again, open your eyes and stop being a sheep.
rtrhead1 at 07:28 PM JST - 10th May

Again, punctuation. Just give it a shot, alright?