AF chief prosecutor leaves service for victims advocacy group

TSgt Joshua Copeland — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 10:56:29 -0500

The Air Force's former chief prosecutor, who won a sexual assault conviction against an F-16 pilot that was later overturned by a three-star general, is leaving the military for high-profile victims advocacy group Protect Our Defenders.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2014/11/26/air-force-chief-prosecutor-don-christensen-leaves-air-force-protect-our-defenders/19531541/?sf34095527=1

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 28 at 2014 3:21 PM

CW5 Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 15:21:52 -0500

A quote from the article: "In a statement, retired Col. Don Christensen called the military criminal justice system 'fundamentally broken' and said the only way to help fix it is from the outside."

That's a pretty harsh critique of the system, TSgt Joshua Copeland, but who would know better than COL Christensen himself? I wish him well and I hope he can change things from the outside.

Response by Maj Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 28 at 2014 11:44 PM

Maj Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 23:44:07 -0500

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/magazine/the-militarys-rough-justice-on-sexual-assault.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1

A few quotes from the article:
[Kris] told me that she thought the loss of Christensen as a prosecutor would be felt among the women in the military. “Meeting Colonel Christensen was my first experience seeing someone who outranked me and who was actually saying, 'We don’t tolerate this stuff.'"

Her hurt was barely restrained as she continued in a jumble of thoughts: “They were my friends. We were family. It’s like parents with two kids — how do you choose? A parent can’t acknowledge that one of his kids did this. Doesn’t want to have a daughter who’s damaged goods. Doesn’t want to acknowledge a failure in the family. My having brought this up is less than optimal. But this is the way these things happen. It’s not going to be some stranger jumping out of the bushes. It’s going to be someone you know. And there won’t be witnesses and there won’t be DNA. But there’ll be a serious character flaw. And I’m the one who saw it. And I hate that this happened to me. I hate that it’s going to happen to other people.”

The second quote, immediately above, is why Wilkerson's verdict was overturned by the 3-star. Something called the third persona. The first of which is the person you are to everyone...at work or in public. The second persona is more intimate, what your wife, family, and closest friends know. The concept of the third persona is the darker side you never let anyone see. In this case, it only comes out with an inebriated, helpless victim. As with the case of Kim Hanks.

Lastly, if the culture truly has changed, the victims prosecuting attorney won't be the first officer to express their outrage.

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