Posted on 10/16/2011 6:22:52 PM PDT by seekthetruth
"Three Days In August" by Bob McCarty
U.S. Army Special Forces Sgt.1st Class Kelly A. Stewart admitted to having a one-night stand with a 28-year-old German woman the night of Aug. 22, 2008. She did, too. Both knew sex was part of the plan when they left the discotheque near Stuttgart. Two months later, however, her story changed and the highly-decorated combat veteran found himself facing rape and kidnapping charges.
During court-martial proceedings one year later, Stewart faced an Army court-martial panel comprised of soldiers who had recently returned from a 16-month deployment with the Army attorney serving as Stewart’s lead prosecutor.
Despite a lack of both physical evidence and eyewitnesses to the alleged crimes, it took only three days for the panel to find Stewart guilty of numerous offenses — including aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, forcible sodomy and assault and battery — and sentence him to eight years behind bars.
Incredibly, the conviction was based almost entirely on the testimony of Stewart’s accuser, a one-time mental patient who, with the backing of the German government, refused to allow her medical records to be entered as evidence.
When several witnesses came forward during a post-trial hearing to reveal startling proof that the accuser had lied several times during the trial, their words were largely ignored by the court and Stewart remained behind bars.
(Excerpt) Read more at threedaysinaugust.com ...
Thanks, Nelson. I guess I missed the point of the post. As I read the link I realized this is all about drumming up business for a book.
Why? He played with the devil in that woman now Kelley is playing an aweful price.
Who are you quoting? Why do you need to go the "holier than thou" route?
Not everyone commits adultery. People who don't have minimize their risks of compounding problems like this. You disagree with that?
Furthermore, this happens to non-military people all the time. They also lose their careers, families, savings. This is no different.
How's the best way to resolve this? Don't take the first step.
Do they want to make an example of him?
Do they want to appease local authorities?
Is their a personal reason or gain for someone in this?
....
Many reasons could be behind this. The moral argument is a non-argument, that's for sure. Constitutionally you are innocent until proven guilty. If there are no witnesses, no evidence, nothing other than one word against the other, you should not go to jail, period.
What situations like Duke really show is that justice in America is politicized making it inconsistent and no longer blind. In fact the American people themselves are so hyper sensitive to certain issues that they suspend all reason or concept of consistency and proportionality when certain issues arise. The murder of my wife and kids might not qualify as a “hate crime,” because it might not be a racially motivated event. Are my wife and children worth less? Does their suffering mean less? Does my suffering mean less? A drunk driver today is of course an easy target and we beat them up with the biggest book of laws and cross we can find. Is what we do to someone with a DUI that had no accident nor ever did but blew slightly over in any way proportional to what the risks really pose or what was done? Are we at the point where hypothetical risks where nothing actually happened allows us to ruin peoples lives? We have come to the point where an accusation based on a “perception” (the person only needs to perceive something as being harassment for example) without evidence or substantive proof is taken seriously. In reality a court should have laughed at the Duke lacrosse teams accuser and the school itself should have never taken actions against these students or even come out and made statements based on trash (but the sort of trash people think they should say). Duke is a fine example of the American hyper sensitivity to trendy or social issues.
(1)In the very left-wing Euro-justice systems, the fact that the plaintiff was a mental patient makes it far worse for the defendant. She is thereby in the Euro-systems, incapable of informed consent. It becomes a form of statutory rape.
(2) Even in the USA, a plaintiff's former sexual history is usually not admissible.
Also, claims of rape by German women against American service personnel are far from rare, and of course most are dismissed out of hand. But if in a certain area, the complaints begin to add up, the Germans will seek to make an example out of an American serviceman. For the prosecutor, this mental patient was a godsend! Prognosis: Kelly will be re-sentenced to time served after a while, and released, and ruined for life.
Ping.
I've stipulated several times that the "progressive" societies of Germany and America tend to favor the female accuser. Justice will never be perfect.
Sure, there's also public opinion against the American serviceman.
But since those are the KNOWN reality, then they merely add risk and heightened consequences for risky behavior.
Dating for anyone is dangerous these days. You're always leveraging yourself down into risk for some desired reward.
Leaving a disco with a drunk stranger to go have sex is very exciting, married or not, but it's not 1974 anymore.
Any woman can holler out rape or attack at any time, with any honest single guy, and likewise any married woman can claim abuse and take your children.
So I save my indignation for the honest victim being taken advantage by the deviant....whether that's a deviant man actually attacking a woman, or a deviant woman falsely accusing an honest man.
In between there, less interest.
Besides, this thread was intended to draw attention to a author's new book, nothing more.
We ALL compound our lives with “problems.” That's part of being human.
*** When a court uses the side bar, the frivolous crap that really has no meaning (1) and that is a general bucket that virtually everyone would fall into anyway (2) in order to crush someone, they have some sort of agenda other than justice.
(1) In the civilian world we no longer really take people to court for adultery or even sodomy - the exceptions don't make a rule. In general, the concept of adultery is not something anyone pursues, not even in some of the more conservative states like Texas. No fault divorce is the way it goes, literally 99% of the time.
(2) As stated before and if you wish I can back up with numerous credible sources, if you really were to go after all that commit adultery and sodomy, you would end up having to lock up 97% of everyone out there. Those laws were based on lies and standards of behavior no one was abiding to, even those writing them, even back then!
What he did was dumb and wrong, but if they can't get him on rape (the real crime), the other crap should of been thrown out. If they can get him on rape (the real crime) then I would be all for nailing him to the wall.
Young people do stupid $hit.
The DoD is full of young people.
You have a concentration of stupidity at times when it comes to personal behavior of folks within the DoD for that reason.
Today the DoD is a kinder more gentler, a gayer more diverse and touchy feeling type of place than ever before in history. The difference is that we live in a digital world where records are kept and nothing is forgotten. A place where the DoD has become a social laboratory for social experimentation and political symbolic gestures. We are in a time where something happens West of Baghdad and within hours pictures or video of it are on Youtube. We live in a time where the government has given itself the power and responsibility to act as the mediator in family matters, on private property, where there is no semblance of privacy from the government (which it was originally actually intended for - today this concept is only applied between the people, i.e. I can not tell my wife that I was sterilized and she'll never know, she can hide the fact that she had an abortion and I would never know, no one will ever know I have HIV; but the government can put camera's on every road and tell you to walk through an X-ray machine at an airport...) or with issues that historically were off limits for Constitutional reasons, i.e. second amendment.
Do you think there was less drinking, smoking, less fighting, drunk driving, less XYZ many years past?
I don’t understand your posts with the hr line.
Are you arguing with yourself? It’s like you underline your strawman, and then proceed to light it up.
Otherwise, quit casting me as maintaining that everyone should be perfect.
I’m saying that you don’t have to be a perfect saint to merely keep your d!ck in your pants once you are married!
Are you Bill Clinton for crying out loud?
Wow, this stinks. It’s as bad or worse than the navy SEALs for allegedly punching some foul critter in Iraq. maybe no comparision but seems like a pattern along with the other links. Gads, what a mess. I will pray for this family and the kids. Man there is just too much tragedy in this, giving me vertigo.
So, given that, I'm interested in whether you agree/disagree with the 9th circuits take on another issue over here... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2793960/posts
So the prosecution is allowed to consider the accuser’s mental history and disability to bring charges but the accused is not allowed to bring that history into question as he defends himself. Months later this woman decides she was raped by a Special Forces Soldier who attained the rank of E-7. She sounds like she is crazy like a fox. And this “crazy like a fox” has a motive: If I read correctly if she proved her case she gets disability for life.
Kelly Stewart cheated on his wife one night. It is a terrible mistake for any partner in a marriage to make. However, it is despicable that the mental disability of this accuser was not allowed into Stewart’s defense as her mental state puts into question her accusations as to whether they are true or not! The injustice of this trial is incomprehensible to me.
Kelly Stewart wore the uniform and achieved a rank of E-7, through much service and sacrifice. He made a mistake but to destroy this Soldier’s life based on accusations of a woman with mental health issues is deploreable. As to “selling a book”, isn’t it still concievable to people that there are those among us who see an injustice and do what they can to right a wrong? Bob McCarty has written extensively on Michael Behenna too, in his effort to help Mike and get his story out. I’m thankful to Mr McCarty, somebody needs to take a stand for our troops and writing a book is a way to get the truth out there. I reject the premise that he just wants to sell books as was posted above.
I have entertained the thought that Kelly Stewart’s conviction was political and I believe Michael Behenna’s to be too. It is disheartening that there is not more defense from this military regarding one of our own and it is infuriating that quite frankly, they appear, in some cases, to participate in disregarding pertinent testimony that would aid in the defense of a Soldier. Our Soldiers darn well better be Army Strong!
Lastly, for USAA to freeze the accounts of this family because Kelly Stewart doesn’t “meet their standards”, and this from a company that professes “to care”. Mrs. Stewart serves also and to deny her funds to take care of her children is downright cruel. Shame on the Army for their total lack of support here.
I sent an e-mail via the USAA internal system on their website and basically blasted the partnership. You know, I got a personal PHONE call from a member of the USAA Board of Directors! They were very concerned about my issues and said they were in fact looking for an alternative partner to do motorcycle insurance so I suggested the Aussie Gecko. That group is way bigger than Progressive.
The board member I was speaking with (forget which, just now) did offer some commentary that the former CEO was the purveyor of communist causes and backing it up with his own cash, is no longer in that position although he is still on that board. I came back with avoiding the perception of sin --- and yada yada yada. I won't leave USAA but I will protest this action.
Oh yeah, about that Harley? THAT notion was quashed by MY CFO....
If this guy was tried in a court-martial, IT IS a US COURT. Military courts-martial trials are not some other country’s running. It is run by the military.
NO. Not EVERYONE cheats on his wife.
Hurrah for that. I didn't cheat on mine before I ever even knew her.
Thank you in your protest of this action against this family.
LOL. Celibacy is almost considered a crime by some these days!
Ahh, you’re just talking about the 92% of the population who really lack personal responsibility. What of it?
Candor51, I appreciate your positive outlook, but I served in that unit for a total of 7 years (89-92 and 93-97), and I know for a fact that SF has it's share of idiots on the teams. Yes, many are weeded out during the Q-course, but many others make it through and are assigned downrange. It happens in a unit with Type A personalities.
I won't go on about what may have happened behind the scenes of this trial because I don't know the full story. The guy could have been a real POS, he could have had a poor defense team, or his chain-of-command could have had it in for him. There are too many variables.
But your money ain't how it's done. Yup, defendant's history counts. Plaintiff's doesn't. E.G., "The man's an animal with a long history of abuse and sexual battery. The woman wasn't well, was mentally coerced into compliance with the fiend's wishes, was given alcohol, and is actually a saint." Sort of an everyday prosecutorial story line in rape cases that make it to trial. Except I.E., for wealthy French international bankers and hotel maids.
Lastly, for USAA to freeze the accounts of this family because Kelly Stewart doesn’t “meet their standards”, and this from a company that professes “to care”. Mrs. Stewart serves also and to deny her funds to take care of her children is downright cruel. Shame on the Army for their total lack of support here.
This is one of those times when justice, the law and military justice and military law just don't fit in one case. The boy is screwed. He'll get out of jail, and out of the Army, probably with a bad ticket, but first he has to suffer to satisfy political correctness and international politics. How long? I'd guess 18 months, at the outside.
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