Is it okay to lose a little of my faith in Humanity whenever I read news articles like these?
Living Paycheck to Paycheck Gets Even Harder
This woman's baby will be taken from her as soon as it is born.
The Latvian Connection
Idiot Judge Number 1.
Idiot Judge Number 2.
Collected from Lupa's Blog.
Showing posts with label Injustice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Injustice. Show all posts
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Justice is Served, Sort of
Remember that U.S. Air Force air(wo)man?
By ESTES THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer
Fri Sep 14, 6:06 PM ET
RALEIGH, N.C. - Charged with committing indecent acts after refusing to testify against a man she had accused of rape, only to see those charges later dropped, a female airman said Friday that she is no longer sure about a career in the Air Force.
"I do respect the fact that they've tried to correct the things they've done wrong," Airman 1st Class Cassandra Hernandez said in a statement released by her attorneys. "As a result of what happened this week, it does give me more hope in the system. I don't completely trust the system now."
The commander of the 43rd Airlift Wing at Pope Air Force Base decided this week to drop the charge of committing an indecent act against Hernandez, 20, who instead pleaded guilty to underage drinking and received a nonjudicial punishment, said one of her attorneys, Capt. Chris Eason.
Hernandez had been scheduled for a Sept. 24 court-martial, where she faced up to a year in prison and dismissal from the Air Force.
"I'm not angry. I'm just glad to have my life back," Hernandez said. "Overall, I'm still disappointed in how this was handled, but if they recognize the things they did wrong and can fix them for future victims, then it was all worth it."
In May 2006, about six months after she arrived at Pope, Hernandez reported she had been raped by three fellow airmen during an alcohol-fueled barracks gathering. One of the airmen was charged with rape. But after initially cooperating with prosecutors, Hernandez started to feel they no longer believed her and declined to cooperate further.
"Towards the end, I felt like I was alone," Hernandez said in an earlier interview with The Associated Press. "One reason I chose not to testify was I didn't want to put myself out there if I was not protected. I felt like I was being hung out to dry."
The Associated Press normally does not identify people alleging sexual assault, but Hernandez agreed to tell her story to reporters.
Her attorneys believe the Air Force was retaliating against her for her decision not to testify when it charged her criminally with underage drinking and committing an indecent act by having sex in the presence of others.
Three male airmen she accused of rape received nonjudicial punishment for indecent acts and were granted immunity to testify at Hernandez's trial, according to Air Force legal documents.
Capt. Beverly Mock, a wing spokeswoman, said Friday that she couldn't discuss details of the case because of privacy laws. Messages left for the prosecutors who handled the case and Col. Timothy Zadalis, commander of the 43rd Airlift Wing, were not returned Friday.
Hernandez was initially offered the same nonjudicial punishment, which Eason said she rejected because her squadron commander "had told her I am going to find you guilty."
Eason said the agreement to drop the criminal charges was reached after negotiations with prosecutors and approved by Zadalis. In a statement, he and co-counsel Capt. Omar Ashmawy said they "hope that those who are at fault are held accountable."
Hernandez enlisted in the Air Force in 2005 and was assigned as a clerk to the 43rd Airlift Wing, a unit whose missions include flying the paratroopers of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division into combat.
Ashmawy said his client is receiving support from the Air Force "as a result of the real psychological and physical trauma suffered from this sexual assault."
"We fervently hope that the lessons learned in this case will be used in the future to prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again," Ashmawy said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070914/ap_on_re_us/air_force_rape
By ESTES THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer
Fri Sep 14, 6:06 PM ET
RALEIGH, N.C. - Charged with committing indecent acts after refusing to testify against a man she had accused of rape, only to see those charges later dropped, a female airman said Friday that she is no longer sure about a career in the Air Force.
"I do respect the fact that they've tried to correct the things they've done wrong," Airman 1st Class Cassandra Hernandez said in a statement released by her attorneys. "As a result of what happened this week, it does give me more hope in the system. I don't completely trust the system now."
The commander of the 43rd Airlift Wing at Pope Air Force Base decided this week to drop the charge of committing an indecent act against Hernandez, 20, who instead pleaded guilty to underage drinking and received a nonjudicial punishment, said one of her attorneys, Capt. Chris Eason.
Hernandez had been scheduled for a Sept. 24 court-martial, where she faced up to a year in prison and dismissal from the Air Force.
"I'm not angry. I'm just glad to have my life back," Hernandez said. "Overall, I'm still disappointed in how this was handled, but if they recognize the things they did wrong and can fix them for future victims, then it was all worth it."
In May 2006, about six months after she arrived at Pope, Hernandez reported she had been raped by three fellow airmen during an alcohol-fueled barracks gathering. One of the airmen was charged with rape. But after initially cooperating with prosecutors, Hernandez started to feel they no longer believed her and declined to cooperate further.
"Towards the end, I felt like I was alone," Hernandez said in an earlier interview with The Associated Press. "One reason I chose not to testify was I didn't want to put myself out there if I was not protected. I felt like I was being hung out to dry."
The Associated Press normally does not identify people alleging sexual assault, but Hernandez agreed to tell her story to reporters.
Her attorneys believe the Air Force was retaliating against her for her decision not to testify when it charged her criminally with underage drinking and committing an indecent act by having sex in the presence of others.
Three male airmen she accused of rape received nonjudicial punishment for indecent acts and were granted immunity to testify at Hernandez's trial, according to Air Force legal documents.
Capt. Beverly Mock, a wing spokeswoman, said Friday that she couldn't discuss details of the case because of privacy laws. Messages left for the prosecutors who handled the case and Col. Timothy Zadalis, commander of the 43rd Airlift Wing, were not returned Friday.
Hernandez was initially offered the same nonjudicial punishment, which Eason said she rejected because her squadron commander "had told her I am going to find you guilty."
Eason said the agreement to drop the criminal charges was reached after negotiations with prosecutors and approved by Zadalis. In a statement, he and co-counsel Capt. Omar Ashmawy said they "hope that those who are at fault are held accountable."
Hernandez enlisted in the Air Force in 2005 and was assigned as a clerk to the 43rd Airlift Wing, a unit whose missions include flying the paratroopers of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division into combat.
Ashmawy said his client is receiving support from the Air Force "as a result of the real psychological and physical trauma suffered from this sexual assault."
"We fervently hope that the lessons learned in this case will be used in the future to prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again," Ashmawy said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070914/ap_on_re_us/air_force_rape
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Air Force Charges Victim in Her Own Rape
Sorry to do this to you guys again, but I had to share this.
This news item made my stomach turn: Cassandra Hernandez, a female Air Force airman was raped, reported her attack and then subsequently became a court-martial defendant, herself.
The story goes down like this: Hernandez was at a party, where she was drinking. She says that three male airman raped her. She went to the hospital and filed a report accusing her attackers. Due to stress and harsh interrogation tactics by the Air Force, she eventually refused to testify against the airmen.
The Air Force then charged her with underage drinking (of which she admits to being guilty, but that's hardly the point, now is it?) and, along with her three attackers,"indecent acts." I had a hell of a lot of trouble finding an official definition for "indecent acts," and the best one I came up with is a "form of immorality relating to sexual impurity which is not only grossly vulgar, obscene, and repugnant to common propriety, but tends to excite lust and deprave the morals with respect to sexual relations." Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the basic translation seems to be "a sexual act, particularly one that is not generally accepted in society, such as sex with multiple partners."
So. The woman was raped. By three men. She reported her rape. She was harassed by her superiors, to the point where she became too afraid to testify. The Air Force took this as meaning that the sex was therefore consensual (which isn't what it means at all), and charged her in the case of her own rape. If she loses her case, she could be publicly registered as a sex offender.
Sounds like it couldn't get any worse, right? But it does. How? The three alleged attackers were offered sexual assault immunity to testify against Hernandez on the indecent acts charge. Having at least half a brain cell among them, they accepted.
Hernandez is writing to her congresspeople and her Governor, Rick Perry, in a desperate plea to end this madness. Once you finish throwing up, crying, breaking things, etc., I strongly suggest that you write, too.
IMPORTANT CORRECTION: Apparently, the correct action to take is to write directly to YOUR congresspersons. You can find the information to write to your Representative here, and the information to write to your Senators here. It is a good idea to include one of the links to articles about thecase, so that they know specifically what you are referring to.
Shamelessly taken from here. I know that as Canadians it's pointless to write to U.S. politicians, but I think this is ridiculous. Muse out.
This news item made my stomach turn: Cassandra Hernandez, a female Air Force airman was raped, reported her attack and then subsequently became a court-martial defendant, herself.
The story goes down like this: Hernandez was at a party, where she was drinking. She says that three male airman raped her. She went to the hospital and filed a report accusing her attackers. Due to stress and harsh interrogation tactics by the Air Force, she eventually refused to testify against the airmen.
The Air Force then charged her with underage drinking (of which she admits to being guilty, but that's hardly the point, now is it?) and, along with her three attackers,"indecent acts." I had a hell of a lot of trouble finding an official definition for "indecent acts," and the best one I came up with is a "form of immorality relating to sexual impurity which is not only grossly vulgar, obscene, and repugnant to common propriety, but tends to excite lust and deprave the morals with respect to sexual relations." Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the basic translation seems to be "a sexual act, particularly one that is not generally accepted in society, such as sex with multiple partners."
So. The woman was raped. By three men. She reported her rape. She was harassed by her superiors, to the point where she became too afraid to testify. The Air Force took this as meaning that the sex was therefore consensual (which isn't what it means at all), and charged her in the case of her own rape. If she loses her case, she could be publicly registered as a sex offender.
Sounds like it couldn't get any worse, right? But it does. How? The three alleged attackers were offered sexual assault immunity to testify against Hernandez on the indecent acts charge. Having at least half a brain cell among them, they accepted.
Hernandez is writing to her congresspeople and her Governor, Rick Perry, in a desperate plea to end this madness. Once you finish throwing up, crying, breaking things, etc., I strongly suggest that you write, too.
IMPORTANT CORRECTION: Apparently, the correct action to take is to write directly to YOUR congresspersons. You can find the information to write to your Representative here, and the information to write to your Senators here. It is a good idea to include one of the links to articles about thecase, so that they know specifically what you are referring to.
Shamelessly taken from here. I know that as Canadians it's pointless to write to U.S. politicians, but I think this is ridiculous. Muse out.
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