experts: ft. carson secrecy in rape cases raises red flags

[niyad]

Experts: Fort Carson secrecy in rape cases raises red flags


Two national experts in military law warn that a recent move by Fort Carson to cover rape cases with a cloak of secrecy raises red flags.

In recent weeks, Fort Carson has refused to release documents charging soldiers with rape and sexual assault, most recently in the case of Spc. Alexander Aguilar. The change came without explanation and reverses more than a decade of routine release of similar documents. Charge sheets are the formal document that accuses a soldier of a crime and specifies what they allegedly did in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Hiding those charge sheets from public view damages the reputation of the military's court system, said Eugene Fidell, the president emeritus of the National Institute of Military Justice who now teaches military law at Yale University.
. . .

An Army spokesman at the Pentagon, Lt. Col. Justin Platt, said the Army has no standard on the release of charge sheets in courts-martial. "That's always been up to the commander," he said. Fort Carson, asked about its reasons for secrecy, didn't respond Thursday.


Many commanders lean toward secrecy, even while that secrecy harms the defendant's right to a public trial and the public's right to observe courts, said Victor Hansen, associate dean of the New England School of Law in Boston and a former Army lawyer.

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http://gazette.com/experts-fort-carson-secrecy-in-rape-cases-raises-red-flags/article/1503985

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