The highly dubious rape conviction of a USFK private has now entered the appeal stage:

Appeals in the case of two U.S. soldiers convicted in July of attempting to rape an off-duty police officer were heard Tuesday in Seoul District Court.

Sgt. Anthony Basel, wearing his military dress uniform and a full, unkempt beard, had been sentenced to 3½ years for his part in the attack. He is seeking a sentence reduction.  [...]

The second soldier, Pfc. Mark Feldman, is appealing his conviction. He was sentenced to three years, but he maintained he wasn’t even in the building at the time of the attack.

His attorney, Kim Jong-pyo, pleaded with the three-judge panel to overturn Feldman’s conviction, noting that during initial witness statements, no one claimed to have seen Feldman at the scene of the crime.  [Stars & Stripes]

SGT Basel is clearly guilty but attempted rape is probably to strong a word for what happened.  I’m willing to bet he was so drunk when he when into that bathroom that he inappropriately grabbed the woman and should be rightfully punished for it.  I’m willing to bet his sentence will be reduced.  PFC Feldmann though is clearly getting rolled especially with the witness statement from the restaurant owner stating he did not see Feldmann in the restroom changing after the police got a hold of him for a few days.  Additionally SGT Basel says the Korean police tried to coerce him into lying about Feldmann’s involvement. 

When it comes to Korean courts they never acquit GIs of anything.  Remember Korean courts have passed prison sentences on a GI protecting his Korean wife from an assault on the subway, on another GI protecting himself from a mob beat down, along with yet another GI who without provocation was assaulted by a Korean man who bashed him across the face with a metal pipe.  When looking at past history, Feldmann stands no chance of being acquitted, but what you may see happen is that Feldmann may have his sentence reduced and suspended effectively releasing him from jail without the Korean court admitting they were wrong.  It gets Feldmann out of jail, but does nothing to address the fact he has already been sitting in jail for nearly a year already.  Justice for GIs in Korea continues to be hard to find.