OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — An Air Force police officer accused of giving prescription painkillers to a fellow airman was found not guilty Thursday at Osan Air Base.
Airman 1st Class Jeremy Kyner, of Osan’s 51st Security Forces Squadron, had been charged with wrongful distribution of a controlled substance — the painkiller Percocet.
The jury of five Air Force officers — a lieutenant colonel, two majors and two captains — returned the verdict at 3:11 p.m. in a court-martial that began Wednesday before military judge Lt. Col. Gregory Friedland.
Kyner was the sixth airman from his squadron to be court-martialed on Percocet-related charges and is the only one to have been acquitted.
The prosecution’s case against Kyner had turned heavily on testimony from an airman currently serving a jail sentence for his Oct. 7 Percocet abuse conviction.
The witness, Airman Chance W. Slaughter, testified that earlier this year, he asked Kyner for Percocet and that Kyner gave him two pills on one occasion and several more on another.
Kyner denied the accusation, saying Slaughter asked him for Percocet but that he never gave him any.
Kyner testified Thursday that he and other airmen were chatting earlier this year during a training exercise when talk turned to some recent surgeries and the medications prescribed to airmen for pain relief.
Kyner testified he told the others that he was scheduled for dental surgery. Sometime after that, Kyner testified, Slaughter came to Kyner’s dorm room and asked him for Percocet.
Kyner, who had not yet had his surgery, told Slaughter he had no Percocet, he testified.
That was the only occasion that Slaughter asked him for Percocet, Kyner testified.
Prosecuting Kyner were Capt. Rob Stuart and Capt. Owen Bishop, both of the Osan legal office.
Kyner’s defense lawyers were Capt. Daniel Vaillant, area defense counsel at Osan, and Maj. Andrew Kalavanos of Yokota Air Base, Japan.
Seven others punished, eighth facing further Air Force action
Following is a list of airmen punished for wrongdoing involving the prescription painkiller Percocet.
The airmen were Air Force police officers assigned to the 51st Security Forces Squadron at Osan Air Base in South Korea.
Airman 1st Class Jonathan W. La Rosee: Sentenced Nov. 1 to three months in jail, reduction to the military’s lowest pay grade, and loss of $400 pay for three months after pleading guilty to abusing his prescription Percocet pills and giving them to fellow airmen who also got high.Airman 1st Class Jonathan Fisher: Sentenced Oct. 12 to five months in jail, reduction to the lowest pay grade, and loss of $867 pay for five months, after pleading guilty to abusing Percocet. Under a pre-trial agreement he is to serve only three months in jail.Airman Shannon L. Sigsbury: Sentenced Oct. 11 to 3½ months in jail, loss of $400 pay per month for five months, reduction to the lowest pay grade, and a reprimand, after pleading guilty to giving fellow airmen some of her prescription Percocet.Senior Airman Chance W. Slaughter: Sentenced Oct. 5 to four months in jail, reduction to the lowest pay grade and a bad-conduct discharge, after pleading guilty to abusing Percocet on more than 30 occasions in about eight months.Airman 1st Class Jessica L. Billings: Sentenced Sept. 14 to two months in jail, reduction to the lowest rank, and loss of two months’ pay, after pleading guilty to wrongfully distributing Percocet.Airman Basic Kale C. Lents: Received nonjudicial punishment and faces administrative discharge. Lents testified for the prosecution against two airmen accused of wrongdoing with Percocet.Airman Basic Cody D. Sousa: Received nonjudicial punishment and faces administrative discharge. Sousa testified for the prosecution against three airmen accused of wrongdoing with Percocet.An eighth airman is no longer stationed at Osan Air Base but faces possible further action by the Air Force.
