Tables Turned On Alleged Rape Victim
Air Force Airman Cassandra Hernandez Could Face Jail Time, Court-Martial
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Play CBS Video Video Air Force Sex Scandal
Cassandra Hernandez claims she was gang raped by three fellow Air Force officers who say the sex was consensual. Hernandez faces charges of indecency. Tracy Smith reports.
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Photo
Cassandra Hernandez talks to Tracy Smith about her ordeal. (CBS/The Early Show)
Hernandez knew since middle school that she wanted to serve in the Air Force and having attained her dream, she felt that her whole life was ahead of her.
But that all changed one night in may 2006 when Hernandez went to a party. She drank far too much and ended up with three male colleagues back at one of their dorm rooms.
"It's kind of fuzzy because I only remember pieces because I was so intoxicated," she told The Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith. "I remember saying no. I remember crying. I remember someone telling me to shhh. I remember trying to push them away. That's all I remember."
But Hernandez is clear on one thing: she says she was raped by all three men.
"And I remember afterwards I grabbed what I could," she said. "I left my purse, my shoes, and I ran partly clothed, barefoot across the base back to my dorm."
A friend took her to the hospital, where tests found she had a blood alcohol content of .11, but showed no injuries indicating rape. Experts say this is fairly common in rape cases involving alcohol. And Hernandez was sure enough of what had happened to make a painful phone call to her mom.
"I couldn't get the words out," she said. "I just kept crying. And I just told her that I was gang raped."
All three airmen were arrested. Rape charges were filed against one but in sworn statements, the men told another story. They say they were "just casually talking" when Hernandez "took off her top" and then "pulled down her pants." She says she doesn't remember doing it.
There are discrepancies in what they say happened next, but in their statements all three men say the sex was consensual. It wasn't until the end of the night that Hernandez started crying and ran off.
Airman Russell Basile, who initially was charged with rape, said Hernandez told him he could have sex with her. Airman 1st Class Jerrel Apache said she performed oral sex on him. Airman Rotez Butler also said he was given permission to have sex.
But Hernandez says it isn't possible that she had consensual sex with them and remembers saying no.
A hearing was set for December 2006 but facing intense pretrial questioning by the defense, Airman Hernandez says she lost confidence and decided not to testify.
"I just didn't think I could take it anymore," she said. "I just wanted to be able to go to work one day and not have to think about it."
As a result, the Air Force dropped the rape charges and now has filed lesser charges against all four airmen including Hernandez. She is charged with dereliction of duty for underage drinking and indecent acts for engaging in sexual activity with an Airman in front of two other airmen.
While all three men chose to accept a nonjudicial punishment called an Article 15, including small fines, extra duties and reduction in rank, Hernandez refused.
"I didn't accept the Article 15 because I did not commit an indecent act," she said.
So Hernandez is now facing a court-martial and likely taking the witness stand for the prosecution are the three airmen she accused of raping her. They've been granted immunity.
"Anything that they say in cooperation, in preparation or on trial can never be used against them," said Hernandez's defense attorney Capt. Omar Ashmawy. "So let's say they get on the stand and say they get on the stand and say yes, 'I raped Airman Hernandez,' that statement could never be used against them."
Her two attorneys never imagined they would be defending an alleged rape victim. Hernandez's attorney, Capt. Chris Eason, says "the system failed Airman Hernandez."
"She has alleged gang rape, but what we have discovered during the course of investigation into her allegations is that the facts were not as we first were led to believe," said judge Col. Tamara Holder.
The air force says it has evidence showing Hernandez wasn't raped - evidence that won't be revealed until the court martial on Sept 24. If found guilty, Hernandez, now 20, could face jail time, lose pay, rank and even be kicked out of the air force.
"I don't know what hurts worse," she said. "Is the fact of being raped? Or having my future taken away from me."
But after all this, she says she till loves the Air Force.
"I guess somehow things got wrong," Hernandez said, "But I still love the Air Force."
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See all 72 Comments"Because if we''''d gone to Baghdad, we would have been all alone. There wouldn''''t have been anybody else with us %u2014 it would have been a US occupation of Iraq. None of the Arab forces that were willing to fight with us in Kuwait were willing to invade Iraq. Once you got to Iraq and took it over, and took down Saddam Hussein''''s government, then what are you going to put in its place? That''''s a very volatile part of the world.
And if you take down the central government in Iraq, you could easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off. Part of it%u2026uh%u2026the Syrians would like to have in the West. Part of the eastern part of Iraq the Iranians would like to claim, fought over it for eight years. In the north, you''''ve got the Kurds. If the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey, then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey. It''''s a%u2026it''''s a quagmire, if you go that far in trying to take over Iraq.
The other thing was casualties. Uh%u2026everyone was impressed with that fact that%u2026uh%u2026we were able to do our job with as few casualties as we had. But for the 146 Americans killed in action and for their families, it wasn''''t a cheap war. And the question for the President in terms of whether or not we went on to Baghdad and took additional casualties in an effort to get Saddam Hussein, was how many additional dead Americans was Saddam worth? And our judgment was not very many, and I think we got that right."
That being said, the taking of one''s reputation is next in line. When one is falsely accused, it is also a violation of one''s personhood. It is a robbery of one''s equality with your peers.
This is what makes rape cases so difficult. If the allegations are true, the violation can only be slightly alleviated by accused coming to justice. If the allegations are false, the damage to the accused, even if the allegations are proven false, are still only slightly alleviated.
Throw intoxication into the mix, and the search for justice is immediately surrounded in fog. Alcohol distorts memory and the brain will piece together distorted facts and draw conclusions that are faulty. A person can be truly convinced that a certain scenario is the truth when it is not. It is not done maliciously. A person can be sincere, and yet be sincerely wrong.
Maybe she was raped, maybe she wasn''t. All of the facts have not come out. My problem is the trend of prosecutors to use the "nuclear option" as prosecutorial philosophy. Prosecute everybody to the absolute fullest extent of the law. Aggressive prosecution does not always promote justice.
If it turns out she was not raped, but sincerely thought she was, she should not be prosecuted for being mistaken. An equitable solution should be searched for that would satisfy justice without damaging the lives of all the people involved.
This is the military, you have young people who get lonely, who get drunk, who change their mind, sometimes too late, but all thrown togather the way they are, provides an opportunity for these types of incidents.
Back in 61, when I was at the Air Force Training center, it was not unheard of to have a young man and women caught it the act, and not in a dorm, out in a field between the areas separated by a big fence.
Hormons will drive boys and girls no matter where they are, whether in high school or the military. that is why I am a Great Grandfather at 63 and I didn''t start till I was 21.
WHO EDITED THIS?
VScaduto: The alcohol definately has a place- it means she was too drunk to remember accurately. And you don''t know everything- they say they have proof she wasn''t raped- let''s hear what it is before we make decisions.
gunnerv1: As a woman, I''d like to agree with you even though your comment is sexist. However, Bush would never agree because he needs those women to be in the military so he can have more people to send to god forsaken places where we don''t belong.
jrlordjr: I mostly agree with you.
She claims some responsibility for getting drunk and making some bad decisions. She also went a bunch of drunk guys to THEIR room...uh...right there is a "red alert". Two "drunks" do NOT make a RIGHT...
Yes rape is a HORRIBLE crime but "sometimes" if you put your hand in the fire you should not be "surprised" if you get burned.
Thank you CBS for getting this victim''s story told. Please continue to keep us informed on the status of this case.
And to Cassandra...you are very brave. Please stay strong and thank you for standing up and stating that this is not right the way you are being treated. You are helping not only yourself, but others struggling for the strength to do the same thing. Good luck, you are in our thoughts and prayers.
Posted by uhf62 at 02:55 PM : Aug 28, 2007
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That is what the Air Force wanted. They wanted her to just drop everything, shut up and go on. But that''s why the air force is SO screwed up now. They just keep telling everyone to accept it all and shut up. I''m proud of her for standing up for what she knows is right.
This has and will keep happening to women in the air force if they don''t FU((KEN do something about it.
I''m sure MOST of men and air force lawyers has raped someone in their airforce training days, and they''re just covering up for they''re protecting their own kind.
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I should also add that this isn''t the first time we''ve heard of this kind of *** happening in the "air force" and it won''t be the last if someone doesn''t stand up to these guys.
They have been trying to cover up all their mistakes from the start and am now just punishing her for not shutting her up about this.
I agree with the person who said 2 drunks don''t make it right. If she can''t remember most of the night, how is she sure she didn''t say no and then change her mind?
As for those that say the military is full of this, you''re wrong. It''s full of over sheltered teenagers who are learning the hard way that underage drinking is against the law and that drinking impairs your judgment.
Come on, if you go to the cops and say while I was murdering my wife someone stole my car, don''t you THINK they are gonna charge you with murder?
Also, how was the case against the "boys" supposed to stand when this girl didn''t testify? She didn''t have to answer the defense attorney''s questions, as she implies, she could have sat silently or left.
My father spent 20 years in military investigations for the Air Force. If there isn''t a case there is no way they can make one. The investigations units are inspected and audited yearly. If the case fell apart as the story alleges it would be because it wasn''t strong enough in the first place. It doesn''t help that she refused to testify.
She exhibit atleas one of the telltale signs of lying throughout the whole interview, by looking up numerous times, which is how liars try to pluck their story out of their heads after telling it a few times.
And what about the guys? Did CBS bother to interview any of them? There is no mention of trying to contact them, or offering to interview them, just this one sided, biased story.
The men were drunk, too. A woman isn''t capable of saying "no" when she''s drunk, which says that if she says "yes" while she''s drunk, men are supposed to guess that she means "no." That''s patently unfair to men!
"Airman, I give you permission to s-c-r-e-w me."
I have seen women at parties gladly engage in *** only to feel remorse as they start to sober up and cry rape.
I served 22 years in the Marines. In all Marine barracks there is a ''duty NCO'' present at all times. His duties are to maintain order and good discipline in the facilty and to represent the Commanding Officer.
The duty NCO must periodically inspect the facility and record his observations in a log book. There is frequently an assistant duty NCO as present as well. This is done on a 24 hour, 7 day week, 365 days per basis.
The Army has a similar system that they call ''charge of quarters''. The CQ has similar duties and responsibilities as the USMC duty NCO.
My concern is this. Where was the duty NCO within the USAF facility?? Does the USAF still have duty NCO''s?? If the duty NCO did not observe this action and prepare a record for the CO''s review, why is he/she not being charged with dereliction of duty??
Junior enlisted and officer types are frequently trying to get away with things they should not do, but, the duty NCO''s charge is to anticipate these things and head off trouble, while representing the CO of the unit.
This seems to be another case of the sh*t rolls downhill and the most junior, and most defenseless, service member gets charged. The girl should be given the benefit of the doubt and the 3 males should not be called as witnesses against her while they have full immunity.
Charles H.
CWO-3 USMC (ret)
This is
I also know a few of my own stories of the double standard that still exists in the AF. I had a Senior Master Sergeant chase me down the hall into the bathroom while TDY in Rihyad and offer me ***, when I complained I was the one in trouble not him. He was a preditor!! From a base in Florida-SMSGT Schmidt, I will never forget him!!!! PIG!!! When I got back to home base a Chief MSGT was very nasty to me-Penny. Another chauvinistic attituded b.as.t.a.r.d.
shall I discuss a Wing Commander, from RAF Upper Heyford, UK, who knocked up a Captain. He was married. He was allowed to keep his retirement-adultery is punishable under the UCMJ. DOUBLE STANDARDS DO EXIST!!!! NOTHING was done to him, just her.
The reason many Arab women are forced to wear head-to-toe covering is because it is accepted that in their culture, men just can''t control themselves otherwise.
Maybe we should start expecting men to DO THE RIGHT THING and drum it into their heads, just as moms and dads drum into their daughters'' heads that they have to stay out of harm''s way or are otherwise somehow responsible for what happens to them.
"Airman, I give you permission to s-c-r-e-w me."
Posted by Keithle1 at 08:28 PM : Aug 28, 2007
WHAT THE HECK!!!!! As a woman who are you to tell me where and when I can and cannot drink with and who I should be around when I do it.
I ahev been to plenty of bars and been drinking with men around and not had a problem there.
Maybe some of these predators should learnt o control themselves or be locked up.
you need to go with them this is horrible now as women we can''t go out b/c we might be raped. Try keeping your pen**is under control maybe allmen should have thier pen**is checked at the door if they are going to be drinking
There is still a big double standard in this country particularly in the military.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 12:54 PM : Aug 29, 2007
lol, it''s always the girls fault if a man can''t keep his pen-is in his pants. LMAO, than it''s the air forces fault for not doing enough to stop this kind of *** form happening.
lol, all these military guys trying to defend their own kind. What a bunch of ***. lol, they''re probably done it themselves that''s why they''re protecting these kind of men. That''s what the air force is known for, training RAPIST....this isn''t the first time it''s happened and won''t be the last.
****why don''t we send all these military rapist and anyone who defends them to die in Iraq and bring our true heroes home.
This is due to the Powerful being in charge and refusing to incriminate themselves.
90% of top management at the corporate, political, judicial, and military levels are Men. They are caucasian.
the system wont change until the vast majority is no longer White Men in power.
Whites receive the benefit of the doubt first over other races. Then Men over women.
If its the other way around in any small number of special cases, its either because of policies that try to fight that innappropriate way of things or its because your just too obvious.
lol, that''s all you can say....I''m a Feminists. LMAO
the only time we hear about the air force is when they''re raped someone.
it''s a training ground for rapist. The air force is a joke. they can''t do anything right. LMAO
Posted by tuckerndfw at 02:38 PM : Aug 29, 2007
am a former US Army MP Sgt and our biggest problem was with the little teenaged dependent girls we would find in the bushes with GI''''s.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 12:54 PM : Aug 29, 2007
Just because that how you acted like a man ***, and rapist when you were in the service it does not mean all our service man and woman are like you.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 03:02 PM : Aug 29, 2007
If drunk people didn''''''''t have wanton, random sex_, many motels would have to close their doors.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 02:38 PM : Aug 29, 2007
You don''t want the motels to go out of business now. would you??
lol...
Now we have to worry about all our service woman being raped while in training or their time serving this country. WOW.
Not only is our government going down the drain our military is as well. Great, no wonder we''re such easy targets.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 02:38 PM : Aug 29, 2007
You were the one who was so worry about motels going out of business.
I''m sure you help them stay afloat.
Illogical, irresponsible, obsessed with sexual fantasies, and, blame men for all your problems.
That should be classified as a mental illness. Posted by tuckerndfw at 03:29 PM : Aug 29, 2007
Of course I am. If I don''t stay in the kitchen, cook, clean, and do anything and everything a man tells me than that means I have a metal illness. LMAO.
No wonder you''re defending these guys, defending your own kind of people. "RAPIST"....lmao. you''re the one who keeps bring sexual fantasies up. lol, must be a fetish of yours to "play" a dominate military man online huh? lol
lmao....you grew up in a totally different world where a man is the head of the house and whatever he said goes, or "ELSE". no wonder you don''t understand how this world works. And can''t seem to comprehend that a women can speak her mind and it''s not copsidered a mental illness.
***wouldn''t it be funny if you were one of these three men. lol, I don''t know how you''re SOOO sure that it wasn''t rape.....with that much conviction, you must be one of the three men. pretending to be someone else. LMAO.
You''re the one getting off playing a dominate military man who is above all women.
You''re the one getting off playing a dominate military man who is above all women.
I don''t know why you alway bring up your fanisties. Your the one bringing it up, I''m talking about the story here.
You can keep playing childish games and say it''s a fantacy, it doesn''t matter to me, I believe this women and hope the men get what they deserve.
It sounds to me like you''re related to these men somehow that''s why you have to much anger towards this women and women in general.
I don''t really care, call it a fantasy, call it whatever you want, call me mentally ill doesn''t matter to me. I still believe this women.
***Not a submissive stay at home-mom, got a meeting to go to. you can play be yourself, seems like your use to it.
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