Los Angeles Times: Judge refuses to dismiss sexual assault charges against general
The Los Angeles Times reports:
A military judge refused Tuesday to dismiss sexual assault charges against a one-star general, rejecting defense allegations that the Army has unfairly prosecuted the case in response to political pressure to crack down on sexual abuse in the ranks.
The ruling came after searing testimony about the emotional breakdown last month of the then-lead military prosecutor, described as irrational and suicidal in the days before he quit the case. Lawyers for Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair had cited comments by the former prosecutor, Lt. Col. William Helixon, in alleging “unlawful command influence” by the Army chain of command.
Helixon was described in testimony by a fellow military legal officer as “crying, irrational, incoherent” and a “functional alcoholic” holed up in a Washington, D.C., luxury hotel on the weekend of Feb. 8 and 9. Brig. Gen. Paul Wilson, a senior Army legal officer at the Pentagon, said he took Helixon to a military hospital in Virginia because he appeared suicidal.
