Six months of Navy court-martial data shows that child pornography and sex crimes involving children rank with adult sex crime allegations as the most serious cases in the San Diego region.
On Monday, the Navy released details of all significant trials between January and June.
In the San Diego region, there were seven general courts-martial – the type of military trial reserved for the most severe crimes. Two involved charges of sexual assault against a child. Two involved child pornography.
All four of those cases resulted in guilty verdicts. The sailors convicted got dishonorable discharges and jail sentences, the longest of which was 43 years.
The other high-level trials involved charges of sexual crimes or an indecent act.
Three sailors tried in joint cases on sex crimes were found not guilty. In another case, a sailor was found not guilty of sexual assault and an indecent act.
In a third case, a sailor pleaded guilty to committing an indecent act.
There was one lesser trial, a “special” court-martial reserved for lower crimes, that resulted in a guilty plea for a San Diego sexual assault.
San Diego Navy officials couldn’t immediately provide details about the cases or say whether this six-month period was unusual in regard to types of crimes.
Navy-wide, there were 135 major trials of all kinds in the first six months of the year, according to the data released.
Of those – which included both general and special courts-martial – 28 involved charges of sexual assault, sexual harassment, indecent acts or similar behavior.
Additionally, 17 alleged indecent acts involving children or possession of child porn.
The Secretary of the Navy announced this legal “transparency” initiative last week as part of a slate of new programs to address growing concern about sexual assault in the U.S. military.
“The idea here is to show that the judicial system is working. We are prosecuting these crimes,” said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Navy's top spokesman, in a video message to the fleet on Monday.
Some members of Congress are pushing to change the way military sexual assault cases are handled, putting prosecution decisions in the hands of uniformed lawyers instead of unit commanders.
The chiefs of all the military branches have said they want to avoid that outcome.
The Marine Corps is expected to post summary information about its courts-martial by Thursday. ..Source.. by Jeanette Steele
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