EDITOR'S NOTE: The Aug. 13 European edition of Stars and Stripes contained an article on Page 3 reporting that a U.S. soldier had appeared before a pre-trial Article 32 hearing on Aug. 11, charged with indecent exposure. In fact, two days before the article was published, the soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Elton L. Jeans, of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, was acquitted of all the charges against him at a court-martial held at his base in Vilseck, Germany. Stars and Stripes regrets the erroneous publication of the Aug. 13 story. The following corrective story is being published today, in all Stars and Stripes editions.

A military jury acquitted a 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment senior NCO of indecent-exposure charges at a court-martial Aug. 11 in Vilseck, Germany, according to an Army official and a defense attorney involved in the case.

Sgt. 1st Class Elton L. Jeans, of the 2nd SCR’s Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, Fires Squadron, faced three specifications of Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The incidents were alleged to have occurred between December, 2008 and February, 2009, according to the charges.

Jeans was also charged with making false statements to Army investigators.

Jeans was acquitted of all the charges during a two-day special court-martial at the Army post in Vilseck, according to Capt. Shawn C. Butler, trial counsel.

“SFC Jeans was completely, fully and totally acquitted of all of the allegations,” David Court, Jeans’ civilian defense attorney, wrote in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes.

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