CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Marine Cpl. Roberto Deloya, 30, was handed a dishonorable discharge and four years in prison Thursday after being found guilty of raping a lance corporal on Camp Hansen last November.
At the conclusion of a three-day general court-martial, the panel of three officers and three enlisted members, including one female, took about two hours to decide on the sentence. Deloya displayed no emotion as the president of the panel read the decision.
The day before, Deloya apologized to the jury for having to try him for what he called “one simple mistake.”
According to testimony during the trial, Deloya and the lance corporal had to be carried back to their rooms after drinking heavily in the barracks and the enlisted club the night of Nov. 17. While the woman lay unconscious on her bed, Deloya went looking for company until he found the lance corporal’s room unlocked.
Later, several Marines checking on the woman’s condition found Deloya having sex with her while she remained immobile. The victim said she remembers nothing of the evening, but is ashamed that she left herself open to assault.
The defense argued that the woman could have been in a blacked-out state in which she could have consented to sex but did not remember.
Deloya was found guilty of rape, three counts of unlawful entry and violation of orders that include a ban on hard liquor and sex in the barracks. He faced a maximum of life in prison without parole.
