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A two-star U.S. Air Force general was found guilty on Saturday of sexual assault, marking the first military trial and conviction of a general in the 74-year history of the military branch.
Major General William T. Cooley faces seven years in prison and dismissal from the Air Force for forcibly kissing a woman after a barbecue in Albuquerque in 2018. Cooley will be convicted in a trial that begins Monday with Col. Christina M. Jimenez. a senior military judge who presided over the case at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio.
Cooley faces charges of three specifications for abusive sex against the woman – his daughter-in-law – including kissing her “with the intention of satisfying his sexual desire”, forcing the victim to touch him on his clothes and touching her breasts and genitals over her clothes. her, according to a statement from the BBC. Cooley has not been convicted on the last two charges. His lawyer did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment late Sunday.
“This case clearly demonstrates the commitment of Air Force leaders to fully investigate the facts and hold pilots of all ranks accountable for their actions when they do not meet Air Force standards,” said Col. Eric Mehia, a staff judge and defense attorney. Towers, in the statement.
Military courts are lawsuits for members of the armed forces accused of committing serious crimes. Those sentenced to imprisonment are in military prisons.
of Cooley the sentence comes months after the president Biden signed last a defense spending bill that includes changes to the conducting military persecution for sexual assault after years of growing pressure from Congress. Under the National Defense Permit Act, within two years, commanders will no longer have the power to decide on servicemen charged with murder, sexual violence, child pornography, domestic violence, kidnapping, harassment and other serious crimes. Instead, the decision will be made available to independent military prosecutors.
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The Army’s annual report on sexual assault registered 6,290 reported incidents in fiscal 2020, a slight increase from 6,236 in fiscal 2019. About 255 of these cases were brought to justice in 2020, and 156 of them were led to a conviction, according to a report.
Cooley, whose career in the Air Force began in 1988, is the first general officer in the history of his service to be prosecuted. The verdict broke an “impenetrable barrier” that has historically protected high-ranking officers from the consequences of misconduct, according to Rachel Van Landingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School and a former Lawyer for an Air Force judge.
“These stars on your shoulders are no longer a shield for criminal behavior,” VanLingham told The Post, adding that the verdict also sends a deterrent message that regardless of your rank, sexual assault will not be tolerated within the United States. Air Force already – and it’s been a long time. “
Cooley was drinking at a barbecue on August 12, 2018, when he asked his daughter-in-law, who was also at the event, for a ride home. During the car trip, the victim said Cooley talked about his fantasies of having sex with her. She said he also “pressed her to the driver’s window, forcibly kissed her and touched her through her clothes,” according to the statement.
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The woman and her husband reported the attack to the Air Force Special Investigation Service in December 2019, according to the service. The following month, General Arnold W. Bunch Jr. removed Cooley from his position at the Air Force Research Laboratory, where he observed about 6,000 people. and managed billions of dollars for research and scientific and technological programs, according to his biography. He was reassigned as Bunch’s special assistant.
Cooley’s case was taken to a military court in April 2021. He pleaded not guilty.
The victim, who did not want to be publicly identified, said in a statement through her lawyer that reporting an attack “should not be so difficult”.
“I hope it won’t be so difficult for the next survivor,” she said.
The victim also noted that the sentence came exactly two years and one day after the death of Vanessa Gyllen, a 20-year-old U.S. Army soldier who was killed before being dismembered and burned by a man facing sexual harassment charges.
Vanessa Gyllen’s spirit was with me on this journey, and while this process was incredibly invasive not only to me but also to my immediate family and closest friends, I know that there are countless other people who have been silenced forever, such as “Vanessa, so silence has simply never been an option,” she said.
Guillaume’s death, along with the #MeToo movement and pressure from Congress, laid the groundwork for prosecutors to secure a verdict against Cooley, Van Landingham said.
“I’m not happy to see this result because there is a victim and the air force is also a victim of his misconduct,” Van Landingham said. “But it’s good to see that the system is finally ready to have a senior officer in charge of this kind of behavior.”
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