Army Sergeant Says She Was Pressured to Lie

A female sergeant allegedly pressured for sex by the Army’s former top enlisted man testified Tuesday that he encouraged her to lie to military investigators about the matter.

In a taped phone conversation between the two, which was played at former Sgt. Maj. Gene C. McKinney’s sexual misconduct court-martial, McKinney is heard advising Sgt. Christine Fetrow to tell investigators that, “You call the office sometime because you want to talk about career development and that kind of stuff. That’s it.”

Fetrow responds: “Yeah.”

“That’s all they need to know,” McKinney adds.

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Fetrow is the first of six women scheduled to testify against McKinney, 47, who is being tried in military court on 19 counts that include charges of obstruction of justice, assaulting an officer, indecent assault, maltreatment of a subordinate and adultery.

If convicted, he could face a loss of rank and up to 55 1/2 years in military prison.

McKinney, the first African American to be named the Army’s sergeant major, pleaded not guilty last week and has called the women’s allegations a collective act of revenge. McKinney has asked to retire with an honorable discharge, which would preserve his pension and benefits. He has been suspended from his Pentagon post and stripped of his title.

After opening arguments Monday, Fetrow testified that McKinney cornered her in his Pentagon office in 1996, pressed his pelvis against her and told her he was sexually aroused.

She also said he called her after his only son was gravely injured in a car accident and asked for “something physical” to comfort him while his wife was in Florida with the boy. The child later died.

In the phone call played in court Tuesday, which was recorded more than a year ago by agents of the Army Criminal Investigation Division with Fetrow’s consent, McKinney tells the young sergeant that she does not have to “get involved” in the investigation.

He later adds, “all you have to do is tell them that we talked a lot . . . Did we ever see each other--No. We haven’t seen each other since, except the day you saw me in the yard.”

Defense attorneys have contended that McKinney was singled out because he is black, noting that no Army general has been court-martialed for sexual misconduct since military law was codified in 1951. All six of McKinney’s accusers are white.

In the conversation presented Tuesday, McKinney tells Fetrow that what Army investigators “are trying to do is make me look like I’m a bad guy . . . And because of this one sergeant major who just outright hated my guts because she couldn’t live up to the standard now she’s dragging everybody who have ever called me into this.”

Charles Gittins, McKinney’s lead attorney, is expected to try to discredit the accusers by questioning their moral character and finding inconsistencies between their testimony and statements they made to other people.

In cross-examination, Gittins implied that Army officials transferred Fetrow to Monterey, Calif., last June as a personal favor in exchange for her testimony against McKinney.