I heard on the news yesterday that about 700 hundred American women have been raped overseas by our soldiers. Over 600 of them were female military. Are there going to be a large number of executions? or will most get their hands slapped?
How many convictions have there been? There may also be cases under the SOFA where a service member was was not convicted under the UCMJ, but was convicted of rape under the laws of a host country which doesn't consider rape a capital crime.
A Military Trial council, like a DA in a civilian trial needs to reach a pretty high bar, and would have to demonstrate extreme aggravating circumstances in order to seek the death penalty in a Rape Case. Although I can't throw precise stats at you, my experience has been that the majority of service member on service member rape cases are barracks incidents that are generally analogous to the date rape allegations that arise from college dorm situations. I suspect the UCMJ keeps this a viable penalty simply because a service member raping a civilian of a subjugated enemy nation is an act of the worst kind of barbarism, and creates harm not only the victim on site, but severely undermines the goals and ideals of the nation as well as placing the soldier's fellow service members at risk for retribution from locals.
Had Laurean stayed and faced the rape allegations against him, he may have gone to court martial, but would have not faced the death penalty. On the other hand, now, if I were the prosecutor and I thought I had the evidence to convict him of rape, I'd go for the death penalty on the rape charge as well as the murder charge just in case he was somehow able to get one or the other charge thrown out or overturned.
While FL may agree with the scumbag Mexicans not to put him to death if convicted, NC may not have to enter into that “agreement”. Even if the Marines don’t put him to death, I think there’s still a chance that the skank will fry.