OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — A defense lawyer for an airman accused of raping a female colleague in a dorm last fall told a jury Wednesday the sex was consensual.
Airman 1st Class Kyle Mitchum of the 51st Operations Group had pleaded not guilty to rape in a court-martial before a seven-member jury and military judge Lt. Col. Gregory Friedland.
Prosecutor Capt. Owen Bishop said Wednesday that Mitchum’s actions had entailed a “predatory progression” of alleged fondling on two occasions, culminating in a rape.
Defense lawyer Capt. Daniel Vaillant countered that the sex “was entirely consensual” and told jurors the woman’s testimony was “very, very unreliable.”
Taking the witness stand Wednesday morning, the woman told prosecutor Capt. Ryan Hendricks that she began socializing with Mitchum last year and visited his dorm room several times. She testified that Mitchum had groped her during one of those visits about two weeks before the alleged rape.
“I told him to stop,” she said of that alleged groping.
She said she visited him again between that occasion and Oct. 22, the night of the alleged rape. That night in his room, Mitchum grabbed her from behind and groped her, she testified.
“I squealed and turned around,” she said.
She said she remained in the room talking with Mitchum and a third airman. She said she left, but returned sometime later to retrieve her cigarettes and, she testified, Mitchum raped her.
She said she was unable to break free and told him three times to stop. She reported the alleged rape that night.
During a brisk 19-minute cross-examination, defense lawyer Maj. Andrew Kalavanos pressed the woman sharply over her continued contact with Mitchum.
“That was pretty offensive, wasn’t it?” Kalavanos asked of the first alleged groping.
She acknowledged under Kalavanos’ questioning that she told Mitchum to stop but did not scream or strike him during the alleged Oct. 22 attack.
And she admitted lying to a nurse who had asked her whether she’d had sex with anyone other than Mitchum within a period prior to the alleged rape. She’d said no then, although she had had sex with another airman, she testified.
The trial was expected to continue Thursday.
