A West Point cadet was sentenced to 21 years in prison for raping a sleeping classmate. Now, he's free to return to school. - CBS News
peter.suber's bookmarks 2019-06-09
Summary:
"In July 2016, U.S. Military Academy Cadet Jacob Whisenhunt was sentenced to 21 years in prison and discharged from the Army after being found guilty raping a female classmate as she slept in a nearby sleeping bag during Cadet Field Training at Camp Buckner. Whisenhunt's defense was that what transpired between him and the female cadet was consensual. But after a four-day trial, a jury of West Point faculty and staff found him guilty on three counts of sexual assault.
Now, an appeals court has thrown out Whisenhunt's conviction, vacating his sentence. ...
The three appellate military judges who overturned Whisenhunt's conviction ruled that circumstantial evidence backed up Whisenhunt's defense that the act was consensual, based on the fact that the woman — identified by the initials LM — did not struggle loudly enough to alert other cadets who were sleeping nearby...."