Marine on trial at Camp Pendleton on charges of adultery, lying

SAN DIEGO -- A Marine is on trial at Camp Pendleton on charges of committing adultery and then lying to investigators by saying she was drunk and had been raped.

Under military law, adultery can lead to a bad-conduct discharge and a year in the brig. Although adultery has long been a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, cases of prosecution are rare, officials said.

According to the official charge sheet at the special court martial, the defendant, a staff sergeant, had sex with another staff sergeant at or near Temecula on March 2 of last year.

The defendant first claimed not to have had sex with “a man not her husband,” and then said she was drunk during the incident “and couldn’t consent to sex,” according to the charge sheet.

The incident was reported to her command by her husband. The defendant is assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. The man with whom she is accused of having sex testified Monday that he did not know she was married; he has not been charged.

Adultery, officials said, undermines “good order and discipline in the armed forces and [is] of a nature to bring discredit to the armed forces.”

Although the defendant’s name appears on the charge sheet, The Times generally does not publish names in cases of alleged sexual assault.

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tony.perry@latimes.com