4 Marines Face Charges In Japan Rape Case

U.S. Military To Court-Martial Marines For Alleged Rape Of 19-Year-Old Japanese Woman

(AP)  The U.S. military will court-martial four Marines in Japan for the alleged rape of a Japanese woman, a U.S. Marine Corps official said Thursday.

The general courts-martial will begin next month, said Master Gunnery Sgt. John Cordero of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni in southern Japan.

The four Marines - accused of an attack on a 19-year-old woman in October - were charged by the military in December.

Japanese authorities investigated the incident but local prosecutors dropped the case in November. Officials refused to provide reasons for not pursuing prosecution.

Lans Cpl. Larry A. Dean, 20, will face the court in April and Sgt. Lanaeus J. Braswell, 25, in May, Cordero said.

Dates for two other Marines - Gunnery Sgt. Carl M. Anderson, 39, and Gunnery Sgt. Jarvis D. Raynor, 34, have not been set yet, he said, adding that the military is not releasing their hometowns.

The decision to court-martial them was made Monday after two days last month of preliminary hearings, the military equivalent of civilian grand jury proceedings, according to Cordero.

The move came as anger has risen on the southern island of Okinawa over the arrest in February of another serviceman on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl. Japanese authorities have dropped that case, but the U.S. military is still investigating.

In the Iwakuni case, media reports say the woman met the servicemen at a restaurant in Hiroshima, and the men drove her to a nearby parking lot where they allegedly raped and robbed her.

Authorities were not releasing details, but Kyodo reported that the woman said she had agreed to have sex with one of the men, but then the three others joined in, with all four of them raping her.

About 50,000 U.S. troops are based in Japan under a security pact between the two countries. Many Japanese complain of crime, pollution and noise associated with the bases.

In the Okinawa case, Japanese police arrested Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott, 38, from Camp Courtney in Okinawa over the alleged attack in February.

Hadnott was released later after the girl withdrew her criminal complaint against him and U.S. military authorities were investigating him.

[tngreen]

"If found guilty, to Leavenworth for life for all for of them for having disgraced their uniform, their Corps, and their country."

Not to mention having brutalized this poor girl. Even if it turns out that she is a prostitute (and I don''t know that that''s the case), she did not ask to be savaged.

When are men going to figure out that women do not turn to prostitution because they like ***??? Set up a new society in which women have the same access to economic opportunity as do men, and prostitution will disappear. I guess that''s part of men''s incentive not to do so.

[keithle1]

U.S. out of Japan now. We have to start lowering our military profile. Especially in Japan & Europe. Japan would welcome our departure. No one stateside would care.

[guest173]

actually I think they do give drug tests, but they give people notice, which won''t really catch people...

[guest173]

it is kind of ridiculous that the Okinawan authorities dropped the cases and then Okinawans are still protesting, their own government is not even pursuing justice. I do hope the military won''t be tolerating that kind of criminal behavior even still. I am half Okinawan, so I know the Okinawans have their fair share of crimes, they just like to keep it all taboo. But at the same time, I''ve met a couple military people who did illegal drugs like marijuana, who moved to Okinawan AFB, I think the military should add drug tests to their rosters.

[formrusmcsgt]

As a Marine who was stationed in Iwakuni for 3 years after leaving Vietnam, I can attest that there is no shortage of Japanese women who like "gaijins".

What is reall a shame is that these Marines are NCO''s and Staff NCO''.

Not that it is any more permissible for an enlisted to rape, but one certainly expects better from NCO''s.

If found guilty, to Leavenworth for life for all for of them for having disgraced their uniform, their Corps, and their country.

[edward1975-2009]

As anyone who has served overseas will tell you. These guys are extremely lucky. What usually happens is they are turned over to the hosting country and tried under their laws. The only assistance the U.S. will provide, is a observer to make sure that the charged service person has adequate counsel. These guys caught a break.

[rickstas]

You need tp look at yourself in the mirror. If you want to see the filth you describe, just go to New York.

[ov442]

I would never defend criminal acts by any americans here or abroad, but, i have to say in the case of Japan, their Lynchmob - Anti American attitude is despicable hippocrisy. Their country is loaded with more perverted, child predator, cheating, filandering, porno loving, molesting men than all other countries combined. Their country had to separate teenagers from the public transit system because of the Immense amount of molesting attacks that occurred on trains and subways and buses by adult men of all types. Its insanity at its worst.
I think these rally groups should be turning their attention in on themselves and doing something about their abuse of females in their country instead of using these limited instances to cry foul about the entire US military presence there.
They should be thanking the people of our country for not leaving their angry, war-loving, hate filled bombed out country for dead after WWII and rebuilt it for them and opened up our markets for them to take over all of our industries and made them rich.

[tibu987]

Just sentence them severely to let others know that this is simply not condoned in the military or anywhere else.
And yes, I believe the lowering of standards in the military will be the cause behind more examples of low morality.

[j-whitman]

deemsnyd,,,, Excuse my spelling, I meant lower standards,,,, I wouldn''t want to get jwinds panties in a wad.

[deemsnyd]

Exactly as I predicted on the first page of this thread....all the same people coming out of the woodwork to say how terrible marines/military are. Grow up. And all of you who consider yourselves liberal, fair, and non-judgmental crack me up. Some of the most bigoted, narrow-minded, intolerant people on these boards consider themselves liberal. LOL

[j-whitman]

jwind,,,, Are you accusing our Troops of being illiterate ???

[b-easy63]

It is a seldom known fact that a women''''s neck swells after ***. And many father''''s in Japan have been known to measure their daughter''''s neck if they return late in the evening.Posted by sara27155 at 10:16 AM : Mar 06, 2008


God forbid--she just has strep throat or tonsilitis then, huh? Lol

[jwind11]

I believe the problem is either in the lower recruitment standards or somethings definatly lacking in basic training, maybe both.


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Posted by j-whitman at 12:42 PM : Mar 06, 20

or maybe they let uneducated people in, such as ones that can''t spell simple words.

[b-easy63]

ruth-hurts,

We all make the same in the military and really don''''t have much choice where we go. Our duty assignments are not based on our pay or family wealth. Do some research before you type ignorant things.

Posted by sassalin at 12:26 PM : Mar 06, 2008


Very untrue--pay grade determines pay amount and job classification determines where one goes--but ALL of that can be influenced by who you know or who you are related or connected to. My dad was a career man in the military (Airforce) he was in Korea and was still in the military during almost all of Vietnam (until 1973). The closest he got to Vietnam was Thailand in the late 1960s and there, for only 18 months.

He had a very high security ranking and was in the MP for years, but when he came back, he took the job of his dreams. Why did he not serve in Vietnam even though he was an expert marksman among other things? According to him--"it was all in who he knew and the favors he called in". And he was an enlisted man.

[deemsnyd]

There is no reason for US bases in Japan. Maybe Japan needs to put bases in the US to keep you nuts in line. What can you say about Peril Harbor, when it was a military installation and the US blew up their own civilians on 9/11? Inside job false flag op for war profiteering in Afghanstan and Iraq. Your own civilians.... not even the Japanese would do that. Not even close. Good luck US and A...LOL! The end.

Posted by zootallures2 at 10:50 PM : Mar 05, 2008


This post of yours, in particular, is unneccessarily vile. Worry about the woes in your own country or are you naive enough to think there a none? Or, better still, look in the mirror. If we all spent more time doing that, we wouldn''t have time to point out the errors of others. perceived or otherwise.

[j-whitman]

I believe the problem is either in the lower recruitment standards or somethings definatly lacking in basic training, maybe both.

[b-easy63]

Seems the Japanese authorities always "drop the rape cases" while the American military tries to pursue them. the question is--do they do it due to pressure from the US (to let us handle it) or is their disrespect for women sooo profound and their belief in raping so prevalent, that they do not pursue it.

Keep in mind Japan has a history of rape and demeaning of women when they are at war and are still a country that condones comfort women and the enslavement of women for soldier sexual satisfaction during times of war. They deliberately coerced young women into serving US service men to keep (they said) the rest of Japanese women safe from rapes) Conversely--they were involved in thousands of rapes in Korea and China during their war campaigns.

Maybe to the Japanese--rape is one of the few things their women are good for--and so they do not honor or punish foreigners who mistreat them....then again...maybe the plot is even deeper than we know.

[j-whitman]

sassalin,,, As a retired navy man I can tell you it happpens, probably less now, who knows -- It''s nothing new, it''s been going on in every war we''ve had, Bush is the example.... Fortuantly most well connected refuse to take advantage of thier parents political connections.

[sassalin]

truth-hurts,

We all make the same in the military and really don''t have much choice where we go. Our duty assignments are not based on our pay or family wealth. Do some research before you type ignorant things.