Airman’s attorney says sex was consensual

Airman’s attorney says sex was consensual
By Franklin Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, May 9, 2008

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — A defense lawyer for an airman accused of raping a female colleague in a dorm last fall told a jury Wednesday the sex was consensual.

Airman 1st Class Kyle Mitchum of the 51st Operations Group had pleaded not guilty to rape in a court-martial before a seven-member jury and military judge Lt. Col. Gregory Friedland.

Prosecutor Capt. Owen Bishop said Wednesday that Mitchum’s actions had entailed a “predatory progression” of alleged fondling on two occasions, culminating in a rape.

Defense lawyer Capt. Daniel Vaillant countered that the sex “was entirely consensual” and told jurors the woman’s testimony was “very, very unreliable.”

Taking the witness stand Wednesday morning, the woman told prosecutor Capt. Ryan Hendricks that she began socializing with Mitchum last year and visited his dorm room several times. She testified that Mitchum had groped her during one of those visits about two weeks before the alleged rape.


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