Prosecutors Strike Out With Tailhook Scandal : Military: As cases wind down, no one has been court-martialed. Most face only fines, reprimands.

When the Pentagon released its report earlier this year detailing sexual assaults during the 1991 Tailhook convention, the document landed with such a resounding whack that it appeared few would be spared prison terms or dishonorable discharges for their roles.

But now, as military attorneys wind down the prosecutions of those accused of attacking women in a Las Vegas hotel, no one has been court-martialed, only one airman stands accused of assault and the vast majority of the cases have resulted in only small fines or reprimands.

The cases have fallen apart for a number of reasons: faulty evidence, uncooperative witnesses, victims who declined to step forward and the military’s own code of silence, which in many cases shuts out prosecutors and prevents them from determining who assaulted whom.

When prosecutors began investigating the Tailhook incident, they found that the servicemen closed ranks and refused to identify the assailants.

Further hampering prosecution efforts were the alleged victims themselves, many of whom were intoxicated at the time and did not want to become further involved in the case.

Indeed, it was only Lt. Paula A. Coughlin, the original whistle-blower in the case, who testified at any length in a pretrial hearing--and her testimony was damaged when it appeared that she had identified the wrong man as her assailant.

When military justice experts look back on the Tailhook scandal and the dearth of courts-martial, they are likely to see a situation in which virtually none of the participants seemed particularly interested in having prosecutions go forward.

Mike Powell, a former Vietnam War pilot and Marine Corps military attorney who is now a defense attorney for a dozen Tailhook defendants, said that “this was not the normal sleuthing case.”

Describing the faulty witness recollections and other problems confronted by prosecutors, he said that “there was not a lot of evidence. It was not like guys left their fingerprints behind.”

But in April, when the Pentagon inspector general’s office released its findings into the 35th Annual Tailhook Symposium at the Las Vegas Hilton, the cases seemed rock solid.

At least 90 victims of indecent assault were identified. Investigative files on at least 140 officers were referred to the Navy and Marine Corps for “appropriate action.”

The inspector general conducted almost 3,000 interviews and 34 polygraph tests, photographed hundreds of officers in an effort to help victims identify their assailants, issued 19 subpoenas, staged numerous undercover operations and obtained more than 800 photographs, depicting a wide range of scenes, taken on the Tailhook weekend.

They found that women were grabbed on the buttocks and groped, pinched and fondled. Some victims were bitten, others were knocked to the ground and their clothes were ripped off.

“There is no excuse for the misconduct and unbecoming behavior that occurred at Tailhook ‘91,” the inspector general said.

The fact that the cases now are falling short is troubling to many people.

Nancy Stagg, a San Diego attorney who represents Coughlin, has seen the case against her client’s alleged assailant dropped because of the apparent mistake in identification. Now she is pursuing a civil lawsuit against the Hilton and the Tailhook Assn. It is scheduled for trial in March.

She said that nothing hurt justice in the Tailhook case more than when hundreds of Navy and Marine airmen closed ranks and said they were unable to identify their comrades, particularly those who participated in a rowdy gantlet where women were assaulted in a third-floor Hilton hallway.

“I think there is a code of silence among the witnesses as to what went on,” she said. “I think it’s something that probably is deeply rooted and something that is peculiar to military organizations.”

It was perhaps the greatest stumbling block for prosecutors. Dozens of airmen told investigators that they saw and heard nothing. Even when they were later granted immunity, they still reported that nothing had been amiss during the three days of partying.

According to a high-ranking Navy source, any Tailhook member who conceded that he saw misconduct could have been prosecuted for failing to stop or report it.

That danger alone, the source said, was enough to keep most of the men quiet.

The source, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, also noted that many of the women were either striptease artists or visitors who were themselves intoxicated, and they were hesitant to come forward for that reason.

In the end, he said, officials found that, while the actions of some men might have been reprehensible, the crimes were not easy to prove.

“There was certainly significant inappropriate behavior,” he said. “Absolutely inappropriate behavior for a Navy-sanctioned event and inappropriate behavior for our people to engage in. But that doesn’t make it inappropriate behavior that reaches the level of actual criminal activity.”

Most of the cases were handled by Navy officials, and early in the investigation Vice Adm. J. Paul Reason testified that of 120 cases he reviewed, half of them were dismissed because of lack of evidence.

Three of the four assault cases involved Navy airmen.

Lt. David Samples is the only one still facing assault charges. Prosecutors allege that he participated in the gantlet and that he lifted a Las Vegas teen-ager into the air and stripped her.

But his case was halted on the day his court-martial was to begin when a military appeals court suddenly agreed to hear his contention that he had been granted immunity in the case. Many observers predict that it will be thrown out--a result that would mean no one would be court-martialed in the scandal.

But even if it goes to trial, the case is still fraught with problems, not the least of which involve the teen-ager herself, according to Samples’ attorney, Michael Kmetz.

“She was 17 at the time,” Kmetz said. “She got totally drunk to the point that she was actually passing in and out of consciousness.”

He added that she has been very reluctant to testify against Samples and that she refused to attend a pretrial hearing. She showed up on the day of the aborted court-martial only after she was subpoenaed, he said.

“Her family has been through a lot with this,” he said. “There’s been a lot of publicity out in Las Vegas. . . . She’s not much of a victim. In fact, she’s a terrible victim. She’s also a terrible witness. She’s going to sit there and say she doesn’t remember any of it.”

Two other assault charges against Navy personnel have already been dismissed.

Assault charges against Cmdr. Gregory E. Tritt were dropped after his case was re-examined by a senior military officer and it was determined that there was no basis for the assault accusation. He had been charged with touching a number of women, including a female Navy ensign who said she was grabbed on the buttocks.

Assault charges were also dropped against Lt. Cole V. Cowden, who had been accused of assaulting two women at Tailhook seminars in 1990 and 1991.

In one case, he was charged with holding a woman down on a bed, pulling off her underwear and fondling her.

But as in the Samples case, there were problems with Cowden’s alleged victims as well. One woman later admitted lying; the other woman, who accused Cowden of touching her chest, later refused to press charges.

In lesser cases, two dozen Navy men received punitive letters of reprimand and fines ranging from $500 to $2,000. Another 12 officers received non-punitive letters of caution. Two were cleared of charges.

In the Marine Corps, the most celebrated case--brought by Coughlin--fell apart after it was shown that she had mistakenly identified Capt. Gregory J. Bonam as her assailant. Her testimony was called into question after new evidence showed that Bonam was not wearing the clothes she remembered and new witnesses said he was on a hotel patio, not in the hallway, when Coughlin was attacked.

His was the only assault charge filed against a Marine. But in lesser cases, a dozen Marine officers were given non-punitive reprimands or $1,000 fines.

Despite the fact that none of the cases have gone to public court-martial, Navy Secretary John H. Dalton said in a recent interview that he is satisfied that broader reforms are being put in place to assure protections for women in the service.

Predicting that sexual abuse and harassment will not be tolerated, he added: “I think that that message has been delivered to the fleet.”