Woman Tells of McKinney Regret
The woman whose complaint triggered the sexual-misconduct investigation of the Army’s top enlisted man testified Tuesday that Sgt. Maj. Gene C. McKinney tearfully apologized two months after she says he made advances toward her.
“ ‘There’s no excuse in the world for what I did. I’m sorry,’ ” retired Army Sgt. Maj. Brenda L. Hoster quoted McKinney as telling her after she blamed her retirement on the advances she says he made in a Honolulu hotel in spring 1996.
“I felt it was a sincere apology,” Hoster told a court-martial that is considering 19 charges against McKinney, 47, the former sergeant major of the Army. It was Hoster’s public complaints about McKinney’s behavior that prompted the service to launch its investigation and remove him from his position.
Hoster’s complaint accounts for only one of the charges of harassment and assault facing the sergeant major. McKinney, who faces up to 55 1/2 years in prison, has pleaded not guilty.
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