Colorado Springs – An Air Force Academy cadet facing a military trial for the alleged rape of a fellow student in October 2003 was investigated for another rape, according to testimony at the court-martial Tuesday.
John A. Aguilar, now a junior, is accused of the 2003 assault when he and the woman were students at the academy’s preparatory school.
Aguilar previously was investigated by the military’s Office of Special Investigations for another rape allegation at the prep school, according to testimony. That investigation, and how the previous accuser was treated by her peers, was a reason cited by the woman for why she did not come forward earlier.
Neither woman now attends the academy, which was rocked by several similar allegations in 2003.
In a low voice, the woman told the court she kept her mouth shut after hearing fellow students call the other woman names, forcing her to leave the academy.
“Everybody was in an uproar,” the woman testified. “People said she put herself in that position. (But) it fed my theory that if I came forward, the same thing would happen to me.”
While Aguilar’s defense lawyer said the woman later “recanted,” military records of the earlier investigation were not available.
“She saw there was an investigation,” prosecutor Capt. Brian Banas told the military judge Tuesday during pretrial motions for the court-martial. “The OSI (Office of Special Investigations) called in people to be interviewed.”
Earlier in the day, Maj. Grant Kratz, the military judge presiding over the court-martial, held a closed- door session to hear arguments on whether to order a therapist to turn over records made by the woman’s psychotherapist and whether her previous sexual history would be admitted as evidence. He sealed the mental health records, but did not rule on the previous sexual history, according to Lt. Col. Robert Mink, an academy lawyer.
Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. John Regni sent an e-mail last week to the estimated 6,000 cadets, faculty and others in the academy community to tell them of the pending court-martial.
Defense attorney Gwendolyn Beitz criticized the e-mail in court, citing the “potential chilling effect it might have on members of the case and witnesses out there.”
Kratz declined to make the e-mail available to the media.
A panel of five officers from the academy community will decide the outcome of the court-martial. They are expected to be questioned by lawyers and seated today. By military law, if convicted, the cadet could face life in prison.
