PRESS RELEASE: Outside Tucson Base Victim’s Family Call for Pilot Convicted of Sexual Assault be Removed
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2013
Contact: Brian Purchia, , brian@protectourdefenders.com
Tucson Contact: Max Wertheimer, 415-302-1584, max@protectourdefenders.com
OUTSIDE TUCSON BASE VICTIM’S FAMILY AND SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS CALL FOR AIR FORCE PILOT CONVICTED OF SEXUAL ASSAULT TO BE REMOVED
Protect Our Defenders protests outside Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (Tucson, AZ) where Lt. Col. James Wilkerson has been transferred after his aggravated sexual assault conviction was overturned by Lt. Gen. Franklin; Air Force Secretary questions whether justice was served in case; More than 3,500 Americans sign online petition calling for removal of both pilots
TUCSON, AZ – Lt. Col James Wilkerson was convicted of aggravated sexual assault against a civilian contractor at Aviano Air Base in Italy. As his punishment, Wilkerson was dismissed from the Air Force and sentenced to one year in jail. Lt. Gen Craig Franklin then overturned the conviction and freed his fellow pilot, reinstating him back into the Air Force against the recommendation of his own legal counsel. Wilkerson was reassigned to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, where many of Wilkerson’s victim’s family reside. He arrived at the base earlier this week.
On Tuesday, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told reporters, “it’s harder to see in this mix if justice was served as a part of all of this.” On Monday, Protect Our Defenders sent Defense Secretary Hagel a point-by-point rebuttal to Franklin’s list of 18 reasons as to why he concluded that he was justified in overturning the conviction of Lt. Colonel Wilkerson’s for aggravated sexual assault.
Earlier today, the victim’s family, Protect Our Defenders, survivors of military sexual assault, and other advocates for victims of sexual assault held a protest outside the Tucson Base. The victim’s brother and sister-in-law, who live in the Tucson area, spoke at the event, calling on Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to remove both Wilkerson and Franklin from the Air Force.
“This ordeal has been extremely painful both for her and the entire family. It is unspeakably hard to watch Kim endure such treatment from the Air Force. She has been forced to withstand an unfair amount of scrutiny and public slandering, hostility, and blame for the crime that was committed against her,” said Dr. Stephen Hanks. “When the Air Force was notified that Wilkerson was being reassigned to the town where a significant number of Kim’s family lives, they refused to consider moving him to one of the multitude of other bases around the world. It didn’t seem to bother them that his presence in Tucson would inflict additional suffering or risk for Kim as well as us. We are here today to voice our outrage at the military’s betrayal of our sister, and to demand that Lt. Col Wilkerson and Lt. General Franklin be removed from the Air Force immediately.”
The ongoing Wilkerson and Franklin scandal has enraged lawmakers — it was the topic of a Senate Hearing last month and has prompted calls for fundamental reforms to fix the broken military justice system. At the protest, Protect Our Defenders also collected signatures for a petition calling for the removal of both Franklin and Wilkerson that has been signed by more than 3,500 supporters, calling on the Defense Secretary to take swift and decisive action in combating the epidemic of rape and sexual assault in the military by removing the two officers.
“Lt. General Franklin has seen to it that Col. Wilkerson cannot be punished for his sexual assault conviction. Secretary Hagel should immediately take action and remove Wilkerson from the Air Force for conduct unbecoming an officer unrelated to this case,” said Nancy Parrish, President of Protect Our Defenders. “The Aviano scandal has made it shockingly clear that fundamental changes to our military justice system are needed. The military process is essentially equivalent to allowing a Mayor, Governor or the President to decide whether or not to charge and prosecute the accused, carefully select a jury, lessen a sentence or override the outcome if the result is not what they desire.”
Wilkerson has a long history of misconduct, as first reported by the New York Times. He had been caught peeking over a bathroom stall while a subordinate’s wife urinated. Wilkerson egregiously violated safety standards, pulled rank to fend off law enforcement officials, was abusive to fellow military officials — and that’s just what we know so far.
The attack at Aviano is just one of almost twenty thousand of similar incidents occurring every year throughout the military according to the Pentagon. Eighty-five percent of victims do not report the crime, mainly out of fear of retaliation and not being believed. Most disturbing of all, out of the 3,200 cases reported in 2010, less than 190 reports of sexual assault in the military actually ended in a conviction. Wilkerson’s conviction was one of those rare instances where justice was served — or so it seemed.
“The Protect Our Defenders community on Causes.com continues to demonstrate the power of collective action by driving awareness of the issue of sexual assault in the military,” said Matt Mahan, President and CEO of Causes.com. “This community has effectively driven real world change as seen just last year in demanding that Rep. Buck McKeon investigate a similar scandal at Lackland Air Force Base.”
Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Mark Welsh has said, “[sexual assault] has the potential to rip the fabric of your force apart. I think it is doing that to a certain extent now” and that “every supervisor who isn’t actively engaged in being part of the solution of this is part of the problem.”
When recently asked about his decision to overrule Wilkerson’s conviction, Franklin responded, “I’ll tell you I am sleeping like a baby…I made the right decision…I can sleep well at night because I know I made the right call.”
Now is the time for General Welsh and Secretary Hagel to do the right thing. Senior officers must be held accountable for failing to take rape and assault within the military seriously.
Last year, Protect Our Defenders launched a petition on Causes.com calling on Congress to hold an open hearing into the ongoing sexual abuse scandal at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. In August 2012, veterans went to our nation’s capital ahead of a closed-door congressional hearing on the criminal scandal at Lackland and delivered more than 10,000 petitions to the Chairman of House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Buck McKeon demanding an open hearing and investigation into Lackland.
After a number of months, survivors were promised “open and complete” hearings about the scandal. The hearing held earlier this year was far from “complete.”
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Protect Our Defenders petition Calling on Sec. Hagel to Remove Lt. Gen. Franklin and Lt. Col. Wilkerson:http://www.causes.com/aviano
AP: Family upset over Air Force officer’s transfer
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Arizona Republic: Protest planned over base transfer of sex-scandal figure
http://www.azcentral.com/news/
Stars & Stripes: Air Force to probe new allegations in sex assault case that roiled military justice system
http://www.stripes.com/news/
Air Force Times: Sex assault clemency surprised prosecutor
http://www.navytimes.com/
Air Force Times: Sex assault clemency surprised prosecutor
http://www.navytimes.com/
Statement to Congress from Aviano Victim:
http://www.
Politico: A call to fire general in sexual-assault dismissal
http://www.politico.com/story/
Dallas Morning News: Air Force officer, convicted of sexual assault, is assigned to victim’s hometown
http://dallasmorningviewsblog.
Ring of Fire: Military Justice Protecting Criminals
http://www.ringoffireradio.
Washington Post: Air Force general¹s reversal of pilot’s sexual-assault conviction angers lawmakers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
New York Times: Hagel to Open Review of Sexual Assault Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/
About Protect Our Defenders: Protect Our Defenders is a human rights organization. We seek to honor, support and give voice to the brave women and men in uniform who have been sexually assaulted while serving their country, and re-victimized by the military adjudication system – a system that often blames the victim and fails to prosecute the perpetrator. Learn more about Protect Our Defenders at www.protectourdefenders.com or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/
Protect Our Defenders partners with Attorney Susan Burke, Burke PLLC to advance lawsuits filed against the DoD and service academies for repeatedly ignoring rape, sexual assault and harassment, failing to prosecute perpetrators and retaliating against the victim.
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