Plea deal for Army general in sexual assault case

Jeffrey Sinclair, an Army general accused of sexually assaulting a female captain under his command, pleaded guilty to lesser charges on Monday in exchange for the dismissal of some of the accusations, according to The Associated Press.

The charges subject to dismissal include accusations that he twice forced his longtime mistress, a 34-year-old military intelligence officer, into oral sex, threatened to kill her and her family and performed consensual but “open and notorious sexual acts”  with her in a parked car in Germany and on a hotel balcony in Tucson, Ariz.

The trial, at Fort Bragg, N.C., was postponed to give plea negotiations a second chance after emails surfaced showing the base commander, Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, may have weighed the broader implications for the Army if he accepted a deal. The military code of justice requires the decision to be based solely on the evidence in the case.

The Pentagon has been under heavy pressure from Congress to combat rape and other sex crimes in the military. The Senate on Monday unanimously approved a bill making changes in the military justice system to deal with sexual assault.

Sinclair, 51, a former deputy commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, has admitted to adultery, which is a crime in the military, but denied assaulting the woman.

The case was derailed this year after prosecutors found that their chief witness, the intelligence officer, may have lied under oath at a pretrial hearing. The defense has portrayed the woman as a liar who concocted the allegations after she saw emails between Sinclair and another woman.

Without the plea deal, testimony in Sinclair's trial cannot resume until the jury of generals returns to Fort Bragg from their posts, which are as far away as Korea and Alaska.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press