CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — A seven-man court-martial jury on Tuesday found a U.S. soldier not guilty of charges he raped and forcibly sodomized a junior soldier while standing barracks duty earlier this year.
But they sentenced Spc. Stacey Barksdale to nine months in jail for consensual sodomy, adultery and dereliction of duty for the Feb. 3 incident. Barksdale — who maintained that sex with the woman was consensual — had pleaded guilty to the adultery and dereliction charges when the court-martial began Monday morning.
As with any jail term longer than six months, he also will be reduced to E-1 and ordered to forfeit all pay and allowances.
The woman had been drinking in an off-base bar and had to be helped back to the barracks, according to court testimony.
Barksdale told the court Tuesday that he helped other soldiers take her to her room and that he returned twice later to check on her.
“I was concerned,” he told the court, adding that he just wanted to make sure she was safe.
During a testy exchange with prosecutor Capt. Justin Evison, Barksdale defended the three trips to the woman’s room that night.
“That’s what you do, sir,” said a visibly frustrated Barksdale. “That’s what leaders do. I’m not no predator.”
He admitted he and the woman had no prior flirtation but that he noticed her earlier in the day wearing civilian clothing and commented to his duty assistant that she was “cute.”
He said that on a sobriety scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being sober and 10 being passed-out drunk, he would rate the woman as about a “three or four” when she first returned from the bar.
But he did say he saw the woman crawling to the toilet to vomit.
He said it was during the final visit that the woman kissed him and initiated the sexual contact.
He said that the woman did not appear to be drunk, that they had consensual sex and that she stopped when she noticed semen on his hip.
Barksdale said the woman said “Aw, man,” when she noticed semen on his hip, but that she didn’t appear upset.
He said he asked her talk to him, but she replied she needed to talk to her friend.
That friend testified Monday that the woman was very upset and that she said she had been raped.
During about 2½ hours on the stand Monday, the woman told the court she had been very drunk.
When she woke to find Barksdale performing oral sex on her she couldn’t do anything, she said.
She said she awoke again to find Barksdale raping her.
Lead defense attorney Capt. Jack Ko spent most of his time Monday highlighting inconsistencies between the woman’s testimony and other court documents.
Evison used the same tactic on Barksdale when questioning him Tuesday morning.
Barksdale told Evison several times that he believed there were mistakes in the Army Criminal Investigative Command report that he signed in the initial days of the investigation.
“Did he force you to put those words down?” Evison asked about the investigator.
He also asked whether Barksdale realized he could have left the investigator’s office at any time while making the statement.
“I was speaking the truth,” Barksdale said. “I had no reason to lie.”
Late Tuesday afternoon, before jurors began deliberating the sentence, Evison asked them to confine the soldier for one year and give him a bad-conduct discharge.
“This isn’t a young, dumb mistake,” he said about the 35-year-old Barksdale. “He doesn’t deserve to wear this uniform.”
Defense co-counsel Capt. Michael Korte delivered a soft-spoken plea to the jury.
“America is about second chances,” Korte said.
He referenced three character witnesses who testified Tuesday to Barksdale’s leadership skills, work ethic and military appearance.
Korte told the jurors they had the option of giving Barksdale three months’ hard labor without confinement.
Before the jurors decided his sentence, Barksdale read a statement to tell them about his life and why he should be allowed to stay in the Army.
Sometimes leaders “stumble and fall,” and “that is why I am here today,” he told the jurors.
He said he had failed as a professional and as a husband and apologized to the woman, her family and his unit.
He asked not to be given a punitive discharge so he could “make up for what I have done.”
Barksdale faced a maximum sentence of six years and three months in jail, a dishonorable discharge, reduction to E-1 and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.
