A cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy was found not guilty of rape by a military tribunal Friday night, officials reported today.
Cadet 1st Class Edward A. Salazar was also found not guilty of indecent assault, according to an academy news release.
An Air Force lieutenant testified that she was too drunk to remember an alleged sexual assault by an Air Force Academy cadet, but she said she knew it happened because of conversations she had with the cadet afterward.
The woman, who graduated from the academy in May, said she and Salazar, one of her best friends, went to a birthday party in Denver in July 2006. She said she could not remember how much she drank, but it was enough to make her pass out.
“He was supposed to take care of me,” she testified previously.
Salazar did not graduate in May, as scheduled, because of the pending case. He is the fourth cadet accused of rape since a sexual-assault scandal broke at the honor-bound institution in 2003.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
