More Charges in Army Sex Case

WASHINGTON —  The sexual misconduct case against the Army’s top enlisted man expanded Friday as the Army produced a fifth female accuser who leveled the most serious charge against him yet.

Sgt. Major of the Army Gene C. McKinney, who already faces 18 criminal counts involving four enlisted women, for the first time faces charges involving an officer. He is charged with assaulting an officer in the performance of her duty and with a separate count of soliciting adultery.

The accuser, not yet publicly identified, was a captain serving with McKinney in Europe when the assault allegedly took place, between May and August of 1994, the Army said. McKinney was the command sergeant major for the American forces in Europe at the time. The charges were announced during a weeklong break in a five-week-old proceeding that is to determine whether McKinney’s case should go to a full court-martial.

This second round of charges comes nearly 10 weeks after the first round, which was announced May 7. An Army spokeswoman, asked to explain the timing, said Army investigators were continuing their investigation. She said there was “always a possibility” that other charges could follow.

The earlier counts against McKinney include indecent assault, assault consummated by battery, maltreatment of a subordinate, soliciting adultery, adultery, communicating a threat, and obstruction of justice. None carries more than a maximum punishment of five years imprisonment.

Assaulting an officer, however, is punishable by up to 10 years in jail, as well as dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and reduction to the lowest rank.

Legal experts said the charge involves a heavier penalty because of the seriousness with which the military views any infraction against an officer. “This is a caste society,” said Gene Fidell, a specialist in military law.

The charge is usually brought against someone who punches an officer, but it could be applied with any kind of touching that is offensive and “not consented to,” he said.

McKinney’s lead attorney, Charles W. Gittins, called the new charges “bogus” and “the weakest yet.”

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Three current or former servicewomen have already taken the stand at Ft. Leslie McNair here to detail their allegations against McKinney, 46.

A fourth, former Sgt. Major Brenda L. Hoster, has agreed to offer her testimony at the hearing on July 25. Hoster had declined to appear, complaining that contrary to military rules, McKinney’s attorneys were investigating the sexual histories of the witnesses.

But this week, even as the Army issued an order to force her to give a deposition, Hoster agreed voluntarily to appear as a witness. The prosecutor had agreed to seek to block McKinney’s lawyers from posing any questions about witnesses’ sexual past.

Under the rules of the pretrial proceedings, Hoster’s attorneys aren’t allowed to represent her in the hearing.

McKinney’s lawyers have vigorously challenged the accusers’ motives and tried to deflate their claims.

The first woman brought forward, Sgt. Christine Roy, alleged that McKinney had pressured her for sex, and finally had unwelcome intercourse with her one night last October at his official quarters at Ft. Myer, Va.

McKinney’s lawyers have demonstrated that the Army has no physical evidence to support the claim and say they will prove McKinney was not home on the night in question.

Another witness, Petty Officer 1st Class Johnna Vinson, testified that McKinney had propositioned her for sex in a hotel lobby. But an Army investigator testified that Vinson later told associates that she was “flattered by the incident, not upset.”

McKinney’s lawyers have also portrayed a third witness, Staff Sgt. Christine Fetrow, as a woman with bitter complaints about the Army, including her discharge from prestigious ceremonial duty at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.