{"id":125317,"date":"2022-04-27T09:32:26","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T13:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=125317"},"modified":"2022-04-27T09:32:26","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T13:32:26","slug":"usaf-general-convicted-of-sexual-assault-given-stern-talking-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=125317","title":{"rendered":"USAF General convicted of sexual assault given stern talking to"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Maj Gen William Cooley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last weekend, Major General William Cooley was convicted of sexual assault for kissing a woman. Not just any woman either. He was macking on his sister-in-law. Keeping it in the family. He was cleared on the charges of having groped her over the clothes. He was facing as much as seven years in prison on the felony.<\/p>\n

The trial judge at the general’s court martial sentenced him yesterday. From Air Force Times<\/a>;<\/p>\n

Air Force Maj. Gen. William T. Cooley, the former head of the Air Force Research Laboratory, was sentenced Tuesday to a reprimand and forfeiture of $10,910 a month for five months for the sexual assault of his brother\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n

Cooley\u2019s sentence was handed down on the eighth day of his historic trial at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, by Col. Christina M. Jimenez, the senior military judge in the case. She is the chief circuit military judge, Air Force Trial Judiciary, Western Circuit, at Travis Air Force Base, California.<\/p>\n

The case marked the first time a military court had issued a verdict in a case involving an Air Force general, as well as the first time sexual assault charges had led to criminal prosecution for an official so high in the chain of command.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Jimenez found the two-star guilty of one specification of the charge of abusive sexual contact for forcibly kissing the victim in a car after a barbeque in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Aug. 12, 2018. Cooley was found not guilty of two other specifications of the charge under Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.<\/p>\n

He had faced a maximum punishment of dismissal, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, confinement for seven years and a possible spot in the national sex offender database.<\/p>\n

The victim agreed to be publicly identified by her relationship to the defendant, but not by name. Air Force Times does not publish the names of sexual assault victims without their permission to protect their privacy. The woman and her husband \u2014 an Air Force civilian employee \u2014 as well as Cooley\u2019s mother and several other family friends and expert witnesses testified in the trial, which began April 18.<\/p>\n

Both the government and defense presented evidence during the sentencing session Monday. Lead trial counsel, Lt. Col. Matthew Neil, offered an unsworn statement of the impact the assault had on the victim and her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cBill robbed me of my safety, objectified me, disrespected me and my family, and forever destroyed all trust I ever had in him,\u201d she said. \u201cI was unable to trust the man my husband considered his closest brother, friend and confidante with my own safety and well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though she \u201choped and prayed for true contrition and lasting remorse\u201d from her brother-in-law of about 30 years, she said she didn\u2019t feel that she received it.<\/p>\n

Cooley apologized Monday to both family and fellow airmen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can honestly say I have come out a better human being than I was in 2018,\u201d Cooley said, according to the Dayton Daily News. \u201cI will work for the rest of my life to be a better person than the one who was portrayed in this trial.\u201d<\/p>\n

After court Tuesday, Nell said the sentence Cooley received sent a message.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this result influenced just one survivor to know that his or her attacker\u2019s rank or status would not prevent them from being held accountable, that is a win for the United States and the military justice system,\u201d Neil said.<\/p>\n

Like all airmen convicted at a court-martial, Cooley will receive an automatic review on appeal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As we all know, a reprimand of an officer (we’re told) is career death sentence. Though it’s not clear just how much higher the 56 year-old officer with 33 years in the service could have gone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last weekend, Major General William Cooley was convicted of sexual assault for kissing a woman. Not … USAF General convicted of sexual assault given stern talking to<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187,447],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-air-force","category-dick-stepping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}