OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — A jury here was weighing a verdict Thursday night in the case of an airman accused of raping a fellow airman in an Osan dorm last fall.
Airman 1st Class Kyle Mitchum of the 51st Operations Group is charged with rape. His court-martial was heard by a seven-member jury of Air Force officers and senior noncommissioned officers and military judge Lt. Col. Gregory Friedland.
The woman accused Mitchum of forcing her onto a bed in his dorm room the night of Oct. 22 and raping her. Mitchum has contended the sex was consensual.
In closing arguments Thursday afternoon, prosecutor Capt. Ryan Hendricks asked jurors to believe the woman’s account of events.
“Make no mistake,” he said, “this is what rape looks like.”
He said it was not unusual for rape victims to refrain from struggling with their assailants. The woman testified Wednesday that she told Mitchum to stop, but did not shout, hit or otherwise fight him.
The fact that a medical exam turned up no signs of a bite mark — though the woman testified Mitchum bit her neck — or other injuries did not mean the woman was lying, Hendricks argued.
The woman herself testified the bite left no mark, Hendricks said.
“There’s nothing tangible and credible to corroborate her story,” defense lawyer Maj. Andrew Kalavanos said in his closing argument.
Kalavanos attacked the woman’s credibility, saying she continued to have contact with Mitchum despite two instances of alleged fondling prior to the alleged rape.
“She never would have gone back there in the first place ... if she was truly offended,” he said.
“This was mutual and consensual throughout,” Kalavanos said.
Under cross-examination Wednesday, the woman admitted lying to a nurse who asked whether she’d had sex within 72 hours before the alleged rape.
She told the nurse she had not, although she had had sex with another airman.
“That goes to her integrity,” Kalavanos said. “She’s a liar.”
