The differences in sentencing for similar crimes in the US military is really frustrating:
A five-member court-martial panel sentenced a 2nd Infantry Division soldier to 90 days confinement and a reduction to E-1 on Friday after convicting him late Thursday night of raping a female servicemember. Prosecutor Capt. Graham Smith had asked that Spc. Leon Mealing Jr., Headquarters Support Company, 602nd Aviation Support Brigade, be sentenced to eight years confinement and a dishonorable discharge for the Sept. 3 rape.
According to testimony, Mealing met the victim at Tommy D’s, an on-post bar. After playing a game of pool with her, he offered to walk her home.
The victim was lost and could not find her barracks, so Mealing offered to let her spend the night in his room. The victim agreed on the condition that she would sleep in the bed while Mealing slept on a chair. After falling asleep in his bed, she awoke to find Mealing raping her, she testified. [Stars & Stripes]
I understand the US military judges everyone on a case by case basis, but you would think that eveyone would agree that not allowing convicted rapists to remain in the military is a good thing. How many people would want to have a convicted rapist in their unit?
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9:27 am on December 10th, 2007 1
GI,
I went and read the rest of the article. His company commander wanted him back even if convicted of rape. Sheesh, I wouldn’t want Mealing in my unit either.
Bill
1:08 pm on December 10th, 2007 2
[...] at ROK Drop wonders why Army Spc. Leon Mealing Jr. is being allowed to stay in the army. He is a convicted rapist after [...]
5:01 pm on December 10th, 2007 3
I’m thinking this case stunk to high heaven. Some of these rape convictions are nothing more than cynical attempts to placate the feminist agenda running (and ruining) rampant in the military services.
The article in S&S made me sick to my stomach. The military needs to review its definition of “rapeâ€.
No female soldier should be raped, and the perp(s) should be punished.
Let us consider for a moment personal responsibility.
Females should have female battle buddies, since all male soldiers are inherently predisposed to rape. Better yet, re-establish the WAC’s. If women want to serve, let them, but protect them, as we are obviously failing in the current model.
10:14 pm on December 10th, 2007 4
Leon LaPorte, rantings of a madman..
Personal responsibility of a female being raped??
5:55 am on December 11th, 2007 5
Leon LaPorte, I agree with you.
Lo Crux; Am I to understand that you feel the “Military Female” is somehow unable to have or maintain her own “Personal Responsibility”? If what you say is true, WTF is she doing in the Military? I’ve seen this crap too many times before. Females do bear some responsibility in what happens to them, OR they should not be serving along side males.
Lets see here; 1. clubing=drinking 2. Oh, I don’t know where I LIVE?!!? 3. Can I sleep in YOUR bed? (All while EXPECTING young (horny drunk) guy to sleep in a CHAIR?)
About the only way to make it any EASIER to get raped would be to “sleep” nude in HIS bed. Course, I wouldn’t call that rape. I didn’t care enough to read the article so a question; She didn’t wake up when he started pulling off her pants?
4:24 am on December 14th, 2007 6
[...] However, I do have to wonder about the wisdom of removing the drug abuser from the military and allowing a rapist to stay? [...]
11:11 am on December 15th, 2007 7
I know the Company Commander and is a close personal friend of mine. He wants mealing back because he’s an awesome soldier. What Mealing did wasn’t wrong… She led him on, literally asked him to jump in the bed made all the right noises then BAM! she decided it’s not what she wanted and cried rape.
3:38 pm on December 15th, 2007 8
First of all this soldier would have to be violating the unit’s barracks policy by allowing her to stay in his room. He should have had the CQ call her unit CQ to pick her up if he was concerned about her getting back to her unit. He instead brought her to his room and figured he could get some from a drunk private. He willingly put himself in a situation to be accused of rape.
I do not feel sorry for these soldiers that put themselves in these positions to be accused of rape. I used to tell my soldiers that if you want to have sex go to a hotel because then you lesson your chances of being accused of rape because the female agreeing to go to the hotel with you shows that she had intent to have sex as well. If a soldier tries to have sex in the barracks then they are at the mercy of what the female soldier claims especially if she is drunk.
11:25 pm on January 7th, 2008 9
8:09 pm on January 10th, 2008 10
[...] to jail. Most of the USFK cases I have already high lighted here before on the ROK Drop such the rape conviction, the mail frauder, the drug abuser, the rape acquital, and the indecent assault. In the ROK court [...]
3:24 pm on January 11th, 2008 11
[...] to jail. Most of the USFK cases I have already high lighted here before on the ROK Drop such the rape conviction, the mail frauder, the drug abuser, the rape acquital, and the indecent assault. In the ROK court [...]
3:41 pm on April 18th, 2008 12
well well,
its nice to see that people can comment so freely on a topic that they know so little about. its amazing how many people can read about this court martial and the sentencing and not ask questions about this and not see it for what it truely was. Crap!! convicted of an article 120 and gets 90 days
sevrices 75 days
they asked for 8 years if there was enough to convict
why not enough for at least 4 years half that would be doing a big favor
2 years at least right
no not even a year not even 6 months
the whole court martial was crap and would have gone no where in the states but there in korea with the mickey mouse crap court where things can be ingored and dismissed
this female said in court how hurt she was and her life would never be the same.
just ask the people around the base if she still went out and partied
she still was sleeping around too
she was gonna get counciling for what happened to her
but did she ?
I guess well never know
but what we do know is that this soliders life will never be the same again
felony conviction
solider well probly never get a good job
think very carefully the next time someone should comment on a topic such as this
do i know the facts did i research this at all do i have any first hand knowledge of the events and how the happened
or am i talking out of my 5 point of contact?!!?
4:56 pm on April 18th, 2008 13
Obviously commenters like Leon LaPorte clearly brought up questions about this conviction. I stated that even if the soldier was convicted on a shady charge of rape he put himself in the position to be accused of rape in the first place by not using common sense and violating established USFK policies.
5:09 pm on April 18th, 2008 14
To further prove my point you might want to read this:
http://rokdrop.com/2008/02/23/more-details-on-false-rape-allegation-2/
This soldier was smart enough to do what I always recommended to my soldiers to do, go to the hotel if you want to have sex because it is harder for the female to claim rape. If this incident did not happen in a hotel and instead in the airman’s barrack’s room at Osan he could have very well been looking at jail time. That is why USFK has policies about females and sex in the barracks.
Here is another guy that was acquitted of rape because he decided to go to a hotel:
http://rokdrop.com/2008/01/21/camp-casey-soldier-acquitted-of-rape/
5:33 pm on April 18th, 2008 15
[...] rape convictions and allegations has long been a topic of interest on the ROK Drop and now a former CID agent has [...]