Some of you may have heard about this case on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell tonight:
The epidemic of rape in the military may have finally reached a turning point with the case of Lt. Colonel James Wilkerson. After being convicted by a military jury last November of aggravated sexual assault, and sentenced to a year in jail, Wilkerson was set free by Lt. General Craig Franklin, who dismissed the case using power granted to commanders in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.“My heart is beating fast right now, I am so upset with this,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill at an Armed Services Committee Budget hearing last week. ”The victim in this case wasn’t a member of our military. I question now whether that unit that [Wilkerson] returns to, whether there’s any chance that a woman who’s sexually assaulted in that unit would ever say a word, because what that general just said is that jury’s decision didn’t matter.”
