Regarding the article “Defendants unaware of Army crime lab’s errors” on your Jan. 5 cover, let me make sure I have this right: Kirk Holcombe was accused of trying to unzip an 11-year-old girl’s pants while she was asleep. Several discrepancies were later found in the work of the crime lab analyst in unrelated cases. This information was provided to Holcombe and his lawyer before his trial. To avoid going to trial, Holcombe and his lawyer decided to accept the Army’s offer of a general discharge. And this is somehow a scandal?

Holcombe is portrayed as being victimized by the Army’s sinister criminal justice system. “It’s ruined me” and “I just want my name cleared,” he laments. Yet the man voluntarily accepted a general discharge and avoided trial for allegedly assaulting an 11-year-old girl.

I wonder how the girl or her parents feel about this case, or about Stars and Stripes putting such a sensationalistic article on its cover.