Tables Turned On Alleged Rape Victim
At 19 years old, Airman Cassandra Hernandez was living her dream. She was stationed at Pope Air Force base and hoping to serve her country in Iraq or Afghanistan.
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."
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. 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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I can understand her confidence in thinking that she would always be safe with her fellow Airmen, she had already experienced years of AFJROTC, she understood what to expect when deployed, she is a trained marksmen, trained to fight, one of the first groups in the Air Force put through special traing to support the Army. She understood and was trained in the probability of rape and torcher by the Enemy, yet I do not think she excepted this by another fellow airmen or servicemen.
She left the party mad after the Airman who gave the party grabbed her butt. She had the morals and values to curse him up and down, that was not her way, that was an indecent act by that airman. Does that sound like she would have consensual ***? That illustrated that she did not want that type of attention. So she left the party, the person that invited her did not even give her a ride back to her barracks. She was so upset that she continued to curse outside, and yes, she was intoxicated. There was not a fellow airman to offer her help to get home safely. I would have thought at least the person that invited her to the party in the first place should have seen her safely back to her barracks, but he didn%u2019t, instead him and his buddies are accused rapists that have been granted immunity.
Anyone that thinks she deserved to be violated because she drank even though under aged, is weak and has no strength of character, period.
Are we to accept that when men get so intoxicated that this kind of thinking or mentality is acceptable, many have said women deserve what ever happens to them because they are drunk, so it was her fault, I do not agree with that, there are unscrupulous types that like to feed drinks to women.
Some have mentioned that she lied and that is evident in her decision not to testify, understand this does not mean she dropped the charges, she said she could not, due to psychological issues, her mother said she tried to get her to commit herself, so that she could get the care she needed.
All I have to say about that is show me a man who gets gang raped and has the strength to report the Crime and go through 3 separate trials, Opened to the public 3 separate times, and each trial covered by the media.
I agree that she was naive in thinking that her fellow airmen would lookout for her welfare, her well-being, her freedom from being harmed, which was her right. The people at that party were trained to look out for one another, that standard of discipline goes to both men and women of the Military, we expect no less.
This Airman%u2019s Lawyers are seasoned prosecutors, in the Military but not from Pope Air Force Base, I believe they are coming out of DC. This is their specialty and they are Military Men.
The reason they took on this case is because the original prosecutors did not follow legal procedures that all bases follow, it seems they had no experience in this type of case. She has correct representation now and the Air Force is providing it. Pope is going to close very soon and there is much turnover, people are being deployed constantly. Her father a Navy Veteran said her original commander, and the victim support group put together at the time of the incident changed several times, the only constant was her victim%u2019s advocate who was not allowed to be with her during any interrogations, she requested his attendance, and he asked to attend, but was denied. Come on, I think there is more to this case then what we know. No one should be victimized because of a poor decision to drink.
S@xual assault is a crime. S@xual assault is defined as intentional s@ual contact, characterized by use of force, physical threat of force or abuse of authority or when the VICTIM does not or CANNOT CONSENT. S@xual assault includes rape, nonconsensual s@domy (@ral or @nal s@x), indecent assault (unwanted, inappropriate s@xual contact or fondling), or attempts to commit these acts. S@xual assault can occur without regard to gender or spousal relationship or age of victim.
%u201CConsent%u201D shall not be deemed or construed to mean the failure by the victim to offer physical resistance. Consent is not given when a person uses force, threat of force, coercion or when the victim is asleep, incapacitated, or unconscious.
By taking advantage of a victim who is incapacitated or otherwise incapable of giving consent. Incapacitation may include mental or cognitive disability, self-induced or forced intoxication,or any other condition defined by law that voids an individual''s ability to give consent.
"All Military Services will use the above definitions"
This is what I''ll teach my boys.
Some of you people need to gather more facts, the hospital took blood alcohol levels at 5AM, it is on record that at the time of the incident her blood alcohol levels were 0.22 and her urine levels were as high as 0.28, So are you saying that I can teach my sons that it is acceptable to have *** with a semi-concious body. Where were you raised, in the Congo? 0.07 and below are in the legal range.
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I hope that everything turns out well for your daughter and that even if she doesn''t get justice for what happened to her, that she will be strong enough to stand up for those who are too afraid to come forward.
Everyone knows that this kind of stuff happens in the military, but no ones care enough to do anything about it. They would rather defend these guys and blame the girl. It''s easier that way. America doesn''t have any standards when it comes to the military. Anyone can join, and if you''re a man with a uniform, you can do anything.