By This story of the Special Forces soldier in Germany, Sgt. 1st Class Kelly A. Stewart who escaped custody after being convicted multiple charges including kidnapping, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual assault of a woman in an August 2008 incident, is just really strange:
A Special Forces soldier who was on the run for nearly two days following a court-martial conviction poisoned himself before surrendering to police, his father told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday.
Kelly A. Stewart — a sergeant first class at the time of his conviction last week on charges of kidnapping, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual assault of a German woman in August 2008 — is now in intensive care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, according to his father, John.
Stewart, 36, fled early Thursday morning after being convicted the night before at his court-martial in Vilseck, Germany. He surrendered late Friday to military police in Stuttgart and was taken to the Army confinement facility at Coleman Barracks in Mannheim. It was at the confinement facility where Stewart showed the first signs of illness, his father said in a telephone interview Tuesday morning.
Stewart, a medic by training, may have injected himself with poison or swallowed pills while he was fleeing authorities, his father said.
He was taken to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center on Sunday and then flown to Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., on Monday afternoon, medical officials said. Patient privacy rules prevent medical officials from discussing patient treatment and conditions.
“He may or may not live,” said John Stewart, who said he was heading to an airport to board a plane from Nebraska to be at his son’s bedside. “He is in the ICU (intensive care unit) and there appears to be some major organ damage, particularly to his kidneys.” [Stars & Stripes]
Read the rest of the article but while on the run, Stewart called his dad and told him that he was innocent and to make sure that his wife and kids understood this. Stewart’s father and family were convinced from the phone call that he was going to commit suicide.
The big thing I am wondering and maybe a lawyer can explain this, but how does someone get convicted of forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual assault, but be found innocent of rape, abusive sexual contact, and communicating a threat? If you are forcibly sodomizing someone isn’t that rape and abusive sexual contact? Than how do you let a guy that just been sentenced and his life completely ruined escape? A lot of things stink about this story.
12:45 pm on August 26th, 2009 1
I had the same questions in my mind. How could he be innocent yet convicted. Or convicted but found innocent. Glad you brought it up.
4:54 pm on August 26th, 2009 2
The whole deal, from accusation to conviction, seems shaky at best… but I am now no longer rooting for him.
He was an instructor… training soldiers how to adapt and overcome while blending in and avoiding hostile forces…
…and this was the best he could do?
Give the funk up and make a half-assed attempt at killing himself to avoid 8 unjust years in a climate controlled box?
John McCain and many like him spent years and years under the tropical sun… with daily beatings… nose-deep in pig sh!t.
This is the best today's kinder and more friendly military has to offer?
With his training, conditioning and motivation, one might have expected he would have gone to the girl's house and, after neutralizing the bored detail sent there to keep an eye out, tied her up and shown her what the crimes she accused him of were really all about. Then, before leaving, applying tourniquets and cutting off her hands and feet to give her something to remember him by. Then, to the people who emotionally convicted him without any evidence, tracking them down one by one over the coming years and giving them a lesson of what is speculation and what is real.
…but, no. Even with nothing to lose, he took the absolutely easiest way out.
Shameful.
4:58 pm on August 26th, 2009 3
""John McCain and many like him spent years and years under the tropical sun… with daily beatings… nose-deep in pig sh!t."
I'm not so sure he was innocent of the crimes he's been convicted, but you do make a compelling argument.
7:34 am on August 27th, 2009 4
You're in luck. Newly minted Army Judge Advocate here. I'll try to parse the law for you the best I can. For all the great info I’ve taken off this site, it’s the least I can do:
There's a new rape article in the UCMJ, which divides the traditional crime of "rape" into crimes of different tiers of seriousness. "Rape," the highest of these tiers, requires that a person cause another person to engage in a "sexual act," i.e., penetration of female genitals by male genitals or, if there is intent to humiliate, abuse, or gratify present, with any other object, by either (1) using force, (2) causing grievous bodily harm, (3) threatening or placing that other person in fear of death, grievous bodily harm, or kidnapping, among a couple other ways. "Aggravated sexual assault," the second most serious tier, on the other hand, can be committed if the other person is threatened by, or in fear of, bodily harm. Fear of death, grievous bodily harm or kidnapping is not required. Stewart could’ve thus threatened the woman with say, punching her in the face in order to have sex with her, which would fall under the definition of “aggravated sexual assault” but not necessarily qualify as “rape” if the woman wasn’t afraid of being killed or seriously injured.
Now, “forcible sodomy” is defined by a separate article, and requires force and “unnatural carnal copulation” with another person or with an animal. “Unnatural carnal copulation” means basically to have sex with any orifice of a person that is not that person’s genitals, or any sex at all with an animal. Thus in this case, I’m sure you can imagine how Stewart could’ve committed “forcible sodomy” without necessarily committing “rape,” which requires the penetration of a genital opening, and without necessarily having a chicken involved.
“Communication of a threat” requires that an intent to wrongfully injure a person, property, or person’s reputation be expressed in language. There are other ways that Stevens could have “communicated” his threat to his victim without running afoul of the statute. However, the crime of aggravated sexual assault does not really require a threat or the placing of another person in fear – another way of committing aggravated sexual assault is by engaging in a sexual act with a person who is “substantially incapacitated” or substantially incapable of (1) apprising the nature of the sex act, (2) declining participation in the sex act, or (3) communicating unwillingness to engage in the sex act. A fact pattern that would fit the scenario is: Stevens finds some girl in a bar who is pissed drunk, somehow manages to take her home and have sex with her while she has no idea of what was going on, and uses his hands to force her to perform oral sex on him, or whatever other brand of sodomy you fancy. A simple scenario and an ugly legal result, I know.
“Abusive sexual contact” is basically illegal fondling/molesting. I think I’ve given you enough to chew on though without going into it.
7:40 am on August 27th, 2009 5
Sorry, I don't know if I'm exactly qualified yet to be giving any UCMJ interpretations so please just keep that in mind when reading the above comment.
8:42 am on August 27th, 2009 6
In other words, SFC Stewart probably met up with an old pro on Kaiserstrasse or some other redlight district in Germany, had anal sex with her w/o a condom in a drunken stupor –like any good ole' boy would've done back home on the ranch/farm — all the while ignoring her numerous pleas of "Kein analsex bitte und Sie muessen ein Kondom abnutzen!" (No anal sex please, and you must wear a condom). As hoes in Germany as well as elsewhere, are completely pathological about anal sex — and will turn on any john who ignores their requests to wear a condom or refrain from such activity — the old pro probably got her pound of flesh by calling the MPs and having him drawn up on the aforementioned charges. (I've seen it before, and it isn't surprising once you realize that a lot of the old pros are USAREUR divorcees who know the system inside and out.)
1:04 pm on August 27th, 2009 7
Thank you for the insight. Certainly more than the average person would know about the law. I think it discredits the female accuser more than the defendent. (in my opinion) Men are men and women are women, when one or the other relenquishes personal responsibilty for themselves they deserve the consequences. The question is who relenquished responsibility.
3:09 pm on August 27th, 2009 8
Great comment that really sheds some light on this case. I would need to see some more details but eight years in prison and a loss of career seems pretty steep for what this guy supposedly did.
3:11 pm on August 27th, 2009 9
Hans this a great comment as well and a likely possibility about what happened.
5:37 pm on August 27th, 2009 10
The lesson to learn: Wear a G*d D*mn condom before you tear into the an*s of a whore. What happened to the moral fiber of American serviceman. In my day, you didn't need to be told to "armor up" before you let it rip in the a**hole of a whore.
Also, its good to casually ask the whore what she ate for dinner. Be careful if she has ate five bowls of corn and peanuts and cheese. This is an old trick used by the German whores to give an unsuspecting solder a "hot lunch suprise". I have been "catcher" of about 4 of those and let me tell you, it was no treat.
Once when I was in the PI, I had five of them running arund in my room. And before I sample each poo hole, I carefully asked permission, and had them sign a poo-hole agreement I wrote on a napkin. You soldiers may be wise to things like twitter, but us old salty dogs know the way around legal cornholing.
5:43 pm on August 27th, 2009 11
remember this raper?
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/na…
8:07 am on September 7th, 2009 12
There are many women out there that will scream rape and such when they get pounded in the ass and never talked to again. Maybe she thought she was going to the land of the big PX and then got pissed when she left with nothing more than a blown out asshole. Who knows? All I know is that this story is obvious bullsnitzel and I think that the bitchh should be shot. How do you get raped, spend the night, wake up and while the guy is in the shower leave your number on a napkin. WTF? I think she is just a whore out for attention.