Defense: Witness lied about academy doctor’s videos

[unhappycamper]

Defense: Witness lied about academy doctor’s videos
By Chris Amos - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Oct 29, 2007 18:34:16 EDT

The prosecution’s chief witness in a case against a Navy doctor accused of secretly videotaping Naval Academy midshipmen having sex at his home lied under oath at a preliminary hearing earlier this year, a defense lawyer said Monday.

William Ferris, lead defense attorney for Cmdr. Kevin Ronan, told a jury of five captains and one commander that former midshipman Abby Strasdas lied during a June Article 32 hearing when he testified that, after discovering tapes of midshipmen having sex in Ronan’s home, took only two of the tapes from the house.

Both tapes were later turned over to police, Ferris said, but Strasdas later admitted that he took two other sex tapes from Ronan’s house, leaving one with a family member and another with a lawyer for safekeeping. Ferris used this to call Strasdas’ credibility into question.

Monday marked the first day of the court-martial against Ronan, who is charged with 11 counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and seven counts of breaking state and federal wiretapping laws.

He could be stripped of his medical license, dismissed from the service and sentenced to 18 years in prison if he is convicted.

Prosecutors told jurors that even if they don’t find Strasdas believable, there is still ample evidence — including handwriting samples, proof that Ronan ordered surveillance equipment, and gay pornography found on his computer that proved his sexual attraction to “young, athletic males” — to convict him.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/10/navy_ronan_071028/