Major General William T. Cooley has been convicted of one specification of abusive sexual conduct (a forced kiss of his sister-in-law's mouth and tongue), and acquitted of two other offenses. He is the first Air Force general officer to be tried by court-martial. The New York Times's Vimal Patel has the story here. After reading the article, ask yourself what sentence he should receive. Although (as the article notes) he cannot be reduced in rank by the court-martial, unless he is sentenced to a dismissal (the officer equivalent of a dishonorable discharge) he will be subject to a grade determination to decide his retired grade, which is the highest grade in which he served satisfactorily. The allegations arose in late 2019 and Maj. Gen. Cooley was relieved of command over two years ago. One does wonder why, even with the pandemic, it took so long to bring this case to trial. It doesn't seem to be an example of complex litigation. It is unclear from the Times report whether the offense had any service connection (a requirement that once did but no longer does limit court-martial subject matter jurisdiction).
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