McKinney Twice Asked for Sex, Army Major Testifies

An Army officer testified Friday that the nation’s former top enlisted soldier twice asked her to go to bed with him and grabbed her by the arm in an apparent attempt to kiss her.

Maj. Michelle Gunzelman, 35, is the second of six female accusers to testify in the sexual misconduct court-martial of Sgt. Maj. Gene C. McKinney, who is charged with harassing, assaulting and threatening the women.

McKinney’s alleged propositions for sex occurred in 1994 in Heidelberg, Germany, where he and Gunzelman were stationed and worked in the same building.

In a closed hearing McKinney’s attorneys, who have questioned the women’s moral character and tried to discredit their statements, asked the judge in the case to allow them to bring out Gunzelman’s sexual history with several officers and enlisted soldiers. But the judge essentially declared details of her sexual history off limits to them.

Gunzelman conceded Friday that she requested immunity from prosecution--which she was granted in June--because of allegations that she committed adultery with a military officer and engaged in fraternization with other enlisted soldiers.

Gunzelman testified that she went up to McKinney’s office at least six times and confided in him about her work problems and lack of sexual relations.

“I might ask his advice how I could approach” men she was interested in, Gunzelman told Lt. Col. V. Montgomery Forrester, one of McKinney’s attorneys.

But, she added, she stopped such conversations when McKinney asked her for sex, which she refused. Still, she admitted that she remained friends with McKinney, keeping an autographed picture of him up on her wall and sending his family a card when his only son died after a 1996 car accident.

At a pretrial hearing last year, Gunzelman said she did not feel like a victim and only testified against McKinney because her superiors told her she had a duty to do so. She was sought by Army prosecutors after questions surfaced about the testimony and credibility of the first four of McKinney’s accusers.

McKinney, 47, was stripped of his post and title--sergeant major of the Army--last year. If convicted of all 19 criminal counts against him, he could be sentenced to 55 years in prison.

Earlier this week, Staff Sgt. Christine Fetrow, 27, told jurors that McKinney pressured her for sex and then encouraged her to lie about it.

The first African American named to the highest-ranking enlisted position, McKinney has pleaded not guilty and claims he was singled out by the Army because of his race.

The trial will resume Tuesday.