November 2013 Army Recruiter Charged with Sexual Assault
Police Report:
A U.S. Army Sergeant Recruiter was charged by local authorities with sexual assault. The Recruiter and his co-workers attended an off-duty party at a supervisorÓ³ residence. People present included military service members along with their spouses and family members. The party was intended to celebrate the supervisorÓ³ birthday. Activities at the party included eating food consuming alcohol and playing cards. As the night grew old the party died down. Many of the attendants left with their families. By 0300 hours in the morning only four people remained: the supervisor his spouse (the alleged victim) and two of the supervisorÓ³ recruiters. The supervisor retired to his bedroom while one of the recruiters went to sleep on a couch in the living room. This left behind and awake the supervisorÓ³ wife and the Defendant-Recruiter. The next day the wife accused the Defendant-Recruiter of sexually assaulting her the night prior. She specifically alleged that he touched her buttocks and breasts repeatedly and without her consent. The supervisor and his wife reported this to both Army and civilian authorities. The Army opted to not criminally charge or prosecute the Recruiter. The civilian authorities however pressed charges for the alleged assault. The Recruiter retained Attorney John L. Calcagni III to represent him in this matter. After extensive pretrial preparation and investigation Attorney Calcagni and his Recruiter-client scheduled the case for trial. In perpetration of the Soldier’s defense Attorney Calcagni subpoenaed many of the attendants to the party all of whom were prepared to testify that the alleged victim was beyond drunk and heavily intoxicated at her party and that she was believed to have mixed prescription medication with excessive alcohol. Attorney Calcagni also planned to establish through the wife’s husband and the recruiter who slept on the couch that neither of them heard saw or otherwise observed anything out of the ordinary on the night in question. Attorney Calcagni further intended to elicit that the woman did not report the alleged incident to the police for nearly one week. Based upon all of this the defense theory was that the woman fabricated the allegations against the Recruiter to cover up her own actions of willfully staying up all night alone with the Recruiter opposed to retiring to her bedroom with her husband the RecruiterÒ supervisor. The question for trial was what really happened that night. When the trial began the prosecutor attempted to call the wife to the witness stand. However the wife got cold feet and hesitated to come into court. After a delay to afford the prosecutor time to meet with his witness it was decided by the parties that a trial would not go forward and instead the Court would enter a not Guilty Filing disposition on behalf of the Defense. As a result the Recruiter maintained his innocence to the allegations did not sustain a criminal conviction of any kind and was permitted to on with his military career. Congratulations to this Army Sergeant.
Criminal Case Result:
- Army Recruiter Charged with Sexual Assault: Not Guilty