Experience And Results That Are Unmatched

U.S. vs. E-5. Cross-Examination of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Reveals Non-Credible Evidence of Bruising Due to Assault. Results in Sergeant Cleared of Sexual Assault, Gets No Punishment.

Mr. Gapasin's client was charged with one specification of rape, one specification of aggravated sexual assault and one specification of false official statement. The sexual assault charge stemmed from a sexual encounter the client had with a female Soldier at Camp Zama, Japan in 2008. The second sexual assault charge stemmed from a sexual encounter he had with a different female Soldier at Camp Zama, Japan in mid 2009. In both instances, Mr. Gapasin's client is alleged to have gone to the Camp Zama Club (an on post entertainment facility) with the females and later engaged in sexual acts with them against their will. The client already received an Article 15 for the first charge back in early 2008; however, prosecutors re-charged the same offense to paint the client as a serial rapist. In the second charge, Mr. Gapasin's client was alleged to have physically restrained the alleged victim while violently raping her inside of another Soldier's barracks room until someone walked in on them while they were having sex. Prosecutors pointed to the multiple bruises on the second alleged victim thus showing the amount of force and violence used by the client. This was rebutted, however, by Mr. Gapasin's cross-examination. Under questioning by Mr. Gapasin, the prosecutor's own Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner testified that the dark coloration of the bruises in relation to the timeline provided by the alleged victim revealed that the bruises could not have occurred when she claims to have been assaulted. Mr. Gapasin also exposed the reasonable possibility that the bruises occurred from PT rather than from an assault. Mr. Gapasin and co-counsel Mr. Timothy Bilecki also attacked law enforcement for notproperly testing the DNA evidence and conducting a sloppy investigation. The enlisted panel acquitted the accused of rape.

Menu