Soldier in Korea convicted of raping friend’s wife

mike · #1 08-27-2006, 08:41 AM

Is it me or is this sentence very lenient?

Quote:

A U.S. soldier was sentenced to five months’ confinement Friday after being convicted in a court-martial of raping a close friend’s wife.

It wasn't like she was willing! He even admitted that.

Quote:

“I thought she was playing hard to get,” Warder told Col. Gregory Gross, chief judge for the 6th Judicial Circuit. “I should have realized she wasn’t.”

Five months and his able to stay in the Army? Is the Army this hard up for troops?

Here is the story of that night.

Quote:

On April 23, Warder and the woman were on Camp Walker after a night of drinking, Warder told the judge. The woman told Warder she was “not in the mood,” Warder said. He stopped pressing her for sex but then “regrouped and tried another strategy,” Warder said early in his statements.

After repeated questioning, Warder told the court that the woman tried to physically resist his attempts to have sex. But as the night went on, the soldier testified, the woman neither consented to sex nor asked Warder to stop.

“Are you convinced she never consented to the sex?” Gross asked.

“Yes, sir,” Warder replied.

Warder faced a maximum of life in confinement without parole and dishonorable discharge from the military. Shortly after 1 p.m. Friday, Gross sentenced him to five months’ confinement, five months’ forfeiture of $849 monthly pay and reduction to the Army’s lowest rank, E-1.

A plea agreement in Warder’s case had called for him to serve a maximum of 18 months had the judge handed down a harsher penalty. Instead, Warder will serve just the five months of confinement.

Warder broke down in tears as he heard from current friends offering support during his sentencing. He cried again when he offered apologies to his former friend, that man’s wife and other people involved in the affair.
“They trusted me with everything and I betrayed that trust,” he said.

At least he is remorseful.

usinkorea · #2 08-27-2006, 07:13 PM

It sounds to me like we need to hear the testimony of the female. I would bet money the judge is giving the sentence based on two things: the level at which she described the rape and the evidence (especially photos) of abuse or lack thereof.

He says that, later on, she neither agreed to the sex or asked him to stop. There are a lot of ways to imagine how that could happen. One of them being that he beat her so much, she simply lost the will to resist.

But, given the amount of time he was sentence to served, I get the impression that a beating was not given. I get the impression that what the female testified to in court was not about what we generally think of when we hear about "rape" - with is images of a man "forcing" a woman to have sex by viciously beating and restraining her - which leaves a lot of physical evidence.

I am not saying this case was not rape. I am saying based on some of what was said and the short length of the sentence leads me to believe this was less than what you see in the typical or stereotypical rape case.

shelli · #3 08-28-2006, 08:04 AM

this is exactley the reason a lot of women dont bother to even report it when they are raped. 5 months? that sucks....

Mr. Joe · #4 08-28-2006, 09:11 AM

I have seen many court's martial sentences and judgements. If I were to guess, which is what we all have to do, the soldier and the lady were OUT TOGETHER, and for some reason, someone felt the need to report a rape. We all know that "I'm not in the mood", and "No" can mean everything or nothing.
The judge did what he felt was the right thing, after reviewing the evidence, so live your life and get on with it! Learn from it, guys and gals. Put yourself in a compromising situation at your own risk.

shelli · #5 08-28-2006, 10:58 AM

your right about the guessing part. however, im guessing that something happened for the woman to say he raped her. if indeed he did rape her? then 5 months isnt long enough.for some background info, when i say that this is part of the reason women dont report it, its because of such a short sentence. rape isnt about just sex, its a violent theft of a persons space. i was raped last year. i was under anesthesia from a medical procedure, so i dont even know who raped me, i tried to report it. the police said that without evidence(bastard used a condom)they wouldnt even take a report. i was not in a compromising situation. just because this woman went out with the guy, thats not an invitation for any kind of sexual activity. for some reason people think that because a woman goes out with a guy she just met, or is friendly with a guy, that she somehow asks to be raped. thats so not true. it wouldnt matter if she actually was activley involved with the guy to the point of "no clothes" if she changes her mind and says no, then he still forces her, thats rape.plain and simple.
ok, sorry, i know your not neccesarily condoning what he did, this is a very touchy subject for me.sorry if i come off sounding like im a *****...lol

Turk · #6 08-28-2006, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by usinkorea

It sounds to me like we need to hear the testimony of the female. I would bet money the judge is giving the sentence based on two things: the level at which she described the rape and the evidence (especially photos) of abuse or lack thereof.

He says that, later on, she neither agreed to the sex or asked him to stop. There are a lot of ways to imagine how that could happen. One of them being that he beat her so much, she simply lost the will to resist.

But, given the amount of time he was sentence to served, I get the impression that a beating was not given.

Interesting how you jumped to include a possible assault and battery with this case when there was nothing indicating any such happening in the story, unless you know more about this case than was posted here. Anyway, This is a stupidly light sentence for someone who is convicted of rape. There have been people in the military sentenced to much harder time and discharged for the act of adultry with another service members spouse, much less raping them. If the court found that the evidence did in fact support the rape allegation, and it apparently did because he was convicted, then this sentence is outrageously lenient and there is no amount of logic twisting on earth that anyone could use, who has a brain, to make it look like a just sentence. Based on the story as posted by Mike.

mavic88 · #7 08-16-2007, 12:14 PM

where was this judge when i needed one....5 months..no discharge...WTF....i got 6 months for posting stuff on the internet...that they thought was wrong!! i guess i should have enlisted in the Army!!!

pathos408 · #8 08-19-2007, 10:42 AM

Wow, our UCMJ punishment seems about as consistent as the civilian justice system's punishment.

Wow, You got 6 months, you must have posted some horrible stuff!!!

mavic88 · #9 08-20-2007, 06:26 PM

lol...well in terms of the military..i guess you can say so...actually i didnt post it...they found the information in my yahoo account, which i saved...it was a newbies guide to the Philippines. See the military wants the whole Clark Days put behind them, and think in a more professional/political views..verse whats really out there!!! But i was also busted from going AWOL for 13 days(using myt days off in conjuction with mid-tours)...so it wasnt just the internet stuff..there was more to it. But i believe the dude who rape this girl should have gotten more time...but maybe there is more to that story as well. Like maybe the girl wanted to have sex...and they cried for help later after the fact, because she was pissed at the guy..just my take on it!!!

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