US Marine charged with rape in Japan, What's the sentence? I bet a slap on the wrist Options

[scorp]

By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer

TOKYO - U.S. forces in Japan have charged a Marine with raping a 14-year-old girl in Okinawa, the Marines said Friday, pressing ahead with a case that spurred protests against the American presence on the island.

U.S. military charges against Staff Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott include rape of a child under 16, abusive sexual conduct, making a false official statement, adultery and "kidnapping through inveigling," or trickery.

No date was set for the court-martial. The charges were made Monday, but the military did not announce them until Friday.

Japanese police initially apprehended Hadnott in the alleged Feb. 10 attack, but released him after the girl dropped charges. U.S. authorities then investigated the case under the strict military justice code.

Japanese police earlier said Hadnott had admitted to investigators he forced the girl down and kissed her, but that he denied raping her.

Hadnott's Feb. 11 arrest — as well as a series of other damaging criminal accusations against American troops — inflamed popular anger at the U.S. military presence.

Japan hosts some 50,000 American troops under a security treaty. About half of them are based on the tiny island of Okinawa, where residents have complained for years about crime, pollution and crowding associated with the military.

The rape accusation prompted the U.S. military to severely restrict troop movements on Okinawa and elsewhere, and conduct an ongoing review of its anti-sexual assault education programs and guidelines.

The announcement of the charging of Hadnott followed the indictment of a U.S. sailor Thursday in the stabbing death of a taxi driver last month.

Olatunbosun Ugbogu, a 22-year-old Nigerian citizen serving in the U.S. Navy, was charged with stabbing the driver to death near a U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, on March 19.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080425/ap_on_...pan_us_military

[Takashi]

Requesting a lock, this is like the millionth rape thread in Jchat.
It's hardly a new thing

[Jaimu-Jaimu]

*Waits for the inevitable people confusing charged with convicted posts*

[scorp]

Requesting a lock, this is like the millionth rape thread in Jchat.
It's hardly a new thing

Why, are you numb because to you it's a common occurance in Japan that's not news to you anymore? It's an update for some of us who want to see justice. I can't believe there is such thing as an anti-sexual assault education programs and guidelines for the US military personnel in Japan.

*Waits for the inevitable people confusing charged with convicted posts*

You sound like he won't be convicted. Maybe you are right.

[utarah]

I can only hope that justice will be given/received to the deserving.

[ryukyu magic]

Why, are you numb because to you it's a common occurance in Japan that's not news to you anymore? It's an update for some of us who want to see justice. I can't believe there is such thing as an anti-sexual assault education programs and guidelines for the US military personnel in Japan.

Hey numbskull, this thread and topic has been posted already about the same rape case.