More rape in Missouri-this time, it's the air force

[xmas74]

The lieutenant colonel on the jury read from the slip of paper. Capt. Jason Wayne Boman, 29-year-old bachelor, graduate of the Air Force Academy, class of 2005:

“Not guilty.”

The rape accusation had been a shock on Whiteman at Knob Noster, Mo., where a few enlisted men have been convicted of sexual violence, but never one of the elite, one of 80 B-2 pilots. Those are the fliers who have guided their big black check marks over Chiefs games, waged war over Iraq, dropped dummy payloads not so far from North Korea just to make a point.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/11/23/4645786/a-womans-word-meets-the-military.html#storylink=cpy

Follow-up to a blog posted here earlier:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024033729

[xmas74]

1. 136 views and not a single reply?

Wow.

[PCIntern]

2. I know that feeling...

Sucks, doesn't it?

Take heart...something tells me that there will be another incident somewhere else that everyone can ignore. And soon.

"He who runs away lives to run away another day."

[xmas74]

3. I posted about this a week ago

and now the papers are picking this up.

This woman is going to lose her job. Why? Because her rapist went free and now his friends are making her life hell.

[delta17]

4. This article makes it look really bad.

There is no reason a civilian should have to go through a military court martial and be badgered like that. Since this happened off base, it should have gone through the local court system. I hope this gets fixed soon.

[xmas74]

8. But someone else here is arguing that since he was acquitted on base

there was nothing to it. You've been here and I bet you can see what the problem is. If this had been enlisted the book would have been thrown at him.

And there's no reason for the additional harassment towards the victim by his friends.

[delta17]

15. I don't know much about court martials.

But I do know AF culture, and it can be hard to understand even if you have been in for a while. She shouldn't have had to navigate a system she didn't understand and wasn't part of.

Some perspective from being there, there was a Whiteman vs. Warrensburg mentality. We were told that local cops targeted us because we had to pay our tickets, and that college students thought they were better than us. Most of this wasn't actually true, but a lot of us believed it. So when something happens, people circle the wagons.

[xmas74]

16. It's actually three-tiered

Whiteman vs college vs townies. Townies actually get the brunt of it, usually with the worst sentences.

I worked at the PD for a few years. You weren't targeted because you had to pay your tickets. If anything, the college kids were targeted the most. Why? Because they often came from wealthier families and if their tickets weren't paid Public Safety was notified, who would eventually make sure that the tickets were paid. A
bigger deal was made about it because every time a ticket was issued we had to notify the LE Desk.
WAFB was actually treated better than anyone else in town, especially since most of the officers were retired or had spouses still in.

[NaturalHigh]

5. Not Guilty

He was tried and acquitted. Do you know how hard it is to get a not guilty verdict out of a military court martial? Judging by the testimony and evidence submitted, I don't see how any jury could have possibly convicted him. Nevertheless, his military career is ruined, and he will always be labelled as a rapist.

Innocent unless proven guilty - that's the American justice system. Should Captain Boman be thrown in Leavenworth based solely on this woman's accusation?

[xmas74]

6. The military pressured the local prosecutor to hand him over

when the local prosecutor felt that it was a slam-dunk conviction.

And it's not the first time this has happened with the base-it's just the first time the victim is willing to be so open about it. Not only that but that no one, not even the victim's friends, are allowed to speak about it. Since this happened there has been quite a bit of harassment, towards the victim and her friends. Blogs have been hacked, threatening phone calls made and now his friends are trying to get the victim fired from her teaching position.

[NaturalHigh]

7. I would think the local prosecutor would be happy to hand off this case.

There is a much better chance of conviction in military court martial than a civilian court, and at the time the penalties were more severe. Frankly, in the military, if the person is sent to court martial after the article 32 hearing, a conviction is almost certain. The fact that Boman was acquitted is an indication of just how weak this case was.

[xmas74]

9. Stoppy, the local prosecutor,

has stated that she was "heavily pressured" into handing it over. She has a very high conviction rate for rape. It was an almost done deal.

From first hand accounts, the entire thing was a three-ring circus. Whiteman is a small base and with a job like his he would have been noticed. Hell, people in the local community know who most of the B-2 pilots are and they are treated differently. If he had been anything but B-2 he would have had the book thrown at him.

And even with a conviction, does that mean she has to keep her mouth shut? Her friend writes a blog entry and the next day someone hacks it. Another friend comments on FB that she will be speaking with the media and she begins to get threatening phone calls at work and at home. And now the victim is about to lose her job. Why? Because his friends have flooded the school with complaints about her.

Think it won't be hard for her to find another job? She might have to leave her field behind. After the attack by his friends it might prove to be very hard to employ her in another school

[NaturalHigh]

10. I'm somewhat familiar with Whiteman.

No doubt that B-52 pilots get special treatment. I don't dispute that.

As for her right to complain about him? Of course she has that right. His friends, who believe that she wrongfully accused him of rape also have the right to complain about her. It works both ways.

[xmas74]

11. I'm very familar with the base,

since I've worked there and still live near it. This has happened before.

Still, should they be allowed to ruin her career? It's over. Should it be allowed? No. Did the rape happen? I think it did. And there was a whole lot of "high five-ing" after, with threats made to get her back.

He received preferential treatment due to his job. Even the local prosecutor has stated it. If he had been enlisted the book would have been thrown at him.

Strange how if it's enlisted the base usually just wants to prosecute their DWI cases but will let county have the others. Why was this so different?

[NaturalHigh]

12. "If he had been enlisted the book would have been thrown at him."

Well, at least we agree on one thing. Enlisted men are also not likely to have the money to spend on good civilian attorneys, and military attorneys pretty much just throw up their hands and beg for mercy after the article 32 hearing. He's lucky he could afford a lawyer who was willing to fight back against the brass.

[xmas74]

13. Why was a prosecutor allowed to turn defense attorney?

The entire case makes no sense.

The truth is that if this had been enlisted it would have remained a state prosecution. Since he was an assigned B-2 pilot the base pressured county prosecutors into handing it over to them, even though our local prosecutor stated that case was a "slam dunk" and that it was an almost certain guilty plea. Once it made it to the base everything changed and even the local prosecutor has made comments about how it never should have been handed over.

There's something wrong here.

[NaturalHigh]

14. "Why was a prosecutor allowed to turn defense attorney?"

Sorry, I don't understand the question. I read the story, but I must have missed that part. Are you talking about the prosecutors who became defense witnesses? Unfortunately, that became necessary when they did indeed, in a legal sense, become witnesses. She told them that she had destroyed evidence and lied about it. At that point, they have a legal and ethical obligation to give that information to the defense and recuse themselves.

If you think that military prosecutors intentionally tanked the case, I can promise you that did not happen. Prosecutors' careers advance based on convictions, and the convening authorities (commanders) are under pressure to refer all sexual assault allegations to courts martial. Trust me on this - no matter how high up the food chain the B-52s may be, the convening authority's career will take a hit because of the not guilty verdict. In all likelihood, so will the officers' on the court martial panel. The military system is heavily rigged in favor of a conviction, and the brass doesn't like it when not guilty verdicts come down. That's why, unlike a civilian jury, a court martial doesn't require a unanimous verdict for a conviction.

As for a local prosecutor calling this a slam dunk and thinking there would be a guilty plea, I just can't see it based on what I have read. Sounds like after-the-fact political posturing to me.

[BainsBane]

25. Whatever you think you know about military justice

doesn't apply to rape. I can see you've avoided newspapers in the last year. You're entire argument is demonstrably false.

[MamaBOV4]

19. Only if it is a legitimate complaint

I mean, no matter what-Jason Boman, former B-2 pilot, will always be an accused rapist.

[gopiscrap]

32. welcome to DU

[xmas74]

33. Welcome to DU.

Did you find this from the KC Star article?

[BainsBane]

26. What do you propose doing about her?

[BainsBane]

20. Do you how few men in the military are convicted of rape

It's something like 1% of the accused, far less than in civil society. So yes, he is not guilty under the law, but the fact is many rapists get off scott-free in the military justice system. You clearly haven't followed the debate about rape in the military.

[xmas74]

21. This conversation has happened in a couple of threads now

with the same poster. According to the poster, even discussing this case is a form of cyber stalking.

[BainsBane]

22. The ongoing theme today: Make women shut up about rape

Rape is a perfectly acceptable topic for porn, but not for women to talk about in public unless they 1) submit to rape porn for male arousal, or 2) insist that a man's "right" to get off watching women be raped and mutilated trumps any rights other women might think they have. If you talk about unfair sentencing, the prevalence or rape, or rape prevention campaigns, that's "misandrist." The most important thing is that men never be allowed to feel uncomfortable. Anything about us--our rights, our safety, our lives--is meaningless compared to men's feelings and wants.

[xmas74]

23. I've been so involved in my threads that I didn't realize that this was an ongoing theme today.

I've had the same poster post in three threads about how talking about this, asking for people to draw attention to this case, is considered cyber stalking and that the victim basically deserves whatever happens after.

[BainsBane]

24. The administrators need to be informed of that

Did you alert on him?

[xmas74]

27. No.

I've noticed recently a really big problem with the alert system. I gave up on it.

The poster posted in three threads about the same thing to me, said they were done talking about it and then replied back when someone else replied.

[BainsBane]

28. PM me links to the threads, please.

[xmas74]

29. Check your mail. nt

[xmas74]

17. kick

[historylovr]

18. K & R

This is so messed up. I agree, this should never have been handed over to the military.

[mwrguy]

30. Military = rape culture gone wild

And people still wonder why I don't treat veterans like they can do no wrong.

[xmas74]

31. This guy was an Academy grad who played football and then flew the Stealth.

AF had invested over a million dollars in his training. There was no way they were going to allow him to be convicted in a civilian courtroom.

If he had been an enlisted mechanic he would have been tried at the county courthouse and convicted.

[TBF]

35. FFS.

[xmas74]

37. He's posting in another thread that I started a week ago on the same case.

He's digging way back for this.

I wonder if his name is Jason Boman?

[xmas74]

39. Typical

that the only posts you are interested in seem to be defending a rapist.

So, what's your connection?

[xmas74]

40. sending you a pm

[xmas74]

36. Both posts are on the exact same case

and you had to dig through several pages to find them.

Troll