OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Airman 1st Class Kyle Mitchum was found not guilty of rape late Thursday night at the end of a three-day trial here.

A seven-member jury acquitted Mitchum of a single charge of rape in a court-martial before military judge Lt. Col. Gregory Friedland.

Mitchum is assigned to the 51st Operations Group.

The jury reached its verdict after deliberating about six hours in a case in which the defense assailed the accuser’s credibility.

The woman testified Mitchum raped her Oct. 22. In testimony that the defense seized on during the trial, the woman said Mitchum groped her in his dorm room on two occasions, but that she had not reported the incidents and continued to socialize with him.

“This was mutual and consensual throughout,” defense lawyer Maj. Andrew Kalavanos said.

The woman also admitted under cross-examination Wednesday that she’d lied to a nurse who’d asked whether she’d had sex within 72 hours before the alleged rape.

She told the nurse she had not, although she had in fact had sex with another airman.

Migrated