22 Counts Reportedly Recommended in Army Sex Case

The Army’s top enlisted man should be court-martialed on 22 counts related to sexual misconduct, an Army hearing officer has reportedly recommended.

Sources close to the case said Friday that Col. Robert L. Jarvis has urged in a three-page report that Sergeant Major of the Army Gene C. McKinney be tried for indecent assault, adultery and obstruction of justice.

McKinney, one of the service’s most admired figures, was accused in February of misconduct that in most of the cases involved pressuring women for sex.

Jarvis presided over a preliminary military hearing, which lasted more than eight weeks, to determine whether the accusations against McKinney were solid enough to warrant a court-martial.

Jarvis proposed to drop three counts suggested by prosecutors: one of assault, one of maltreatment of a subordinate and one involving alleged obstruction of justice. But he suggested that the Army superiors who must make a final decision on the proposed court-martial add three perjury charges, based on McKinney’s sworn statements during the preliminary hearing.

Jarvis’ recommendations suggest that he found at least some reason to believe the accounts of each of the six current or former servicewomen who came forward with accusations against McKinney. While Jarvis urged the dropping of three charges, he proposed to let stand at least some charges related to the accounts of each accuser.

On the other hand, Jarvis did not support an Army prosecutor’s urging that McKinney be charged with rape.

The prosecutor, Col. Michael Child, said in final hearing arguments that McKinney should be tried for rape because of a woman’s testimony that McKinney forced her to have sexual intercourse against her will last year in his quarters at Ft. Meyer, near Washington. McKinney denied the charge and contended he was not at home on the day the crime allegedly occurred.

Experts said precedent suggests that Jarvis’ superiors probably will endorse his recommendations for a court-martial. That procedure could be very long and uncomfortable for Army leaders, who have already endured months of allegations concerning sexual misconduct in the service.

While hearing officers’ reports are sometimes ignored, unless a plea bargain or other disposition is worked out between McKinney’s lawyers and the Army, the case “in all probability . . . will go to trial,” said Eugene C. Fidell, a Washington specialist in military law.

Jarvis’ recommendation goes next to Col. Owen C. Powell, who commands the Ft. Meyer garrison, and then to Maj. Gen. Robert F. Foley, commander of the Washington Military District. In addition to Jarvis’ brief report, both will receive input from their legal staffs. They also can review the 6,000-page hearing transcript.

Fidell said Jarvis’ three-page report was “on the short side” for such cases but added that such brevity was not unheard of.

Charles Gittins, McKinney’s civilian lawyer, said he was “reviewing the investigative report” but had no immediate comment.

McKinney, who is black, has denied all charges against him and portrayed himself as the victim of a racist conspiracy by the Army. He has insisted that the Army allow him to retire with an honorable discharge, a move that would preserve his pension and benefits.

In many similar cases, the Army might now be discussing a plea agreement under which McKinney would admit to lesser charges. But legal analysts have previously said that it would be difficult for the Army to offer such an agreement in McKinney’s case, because it could spark accusations that the Army took sexual misconduct charges against the senior staff lightly.

Also complicating that scenario is the end-of-hearing promise by Gittins to go public with information about the sexual misconduct of senior Army officers if McKinney were court-martialed.