Courts Martial

Taking the witness stand Tuesday in his own defense, the Army's former top enlisted man denied all charges of sexual misconduct against him. Sgt. Maj. Gene C. McKinney, who is facing 19 charges at his court-martial, began what is expected to be at least two days of testimony with a blanket denial that he had forced himself on any of six women soldiers who have accused him of misconduct.

The Army's former top enlisted man insisted Wednesday that there was "nothing inappropriate" about his post-midnight visit to the hotel room of a female aide while he was wearing gym shorts. Sgt. Maj. Gene C. McKinney, who is facing 19 charges of sexual misconduct, said he went to the room of then-Sgt. Maj. Brenda Hoster to tell her he was firing her as his speech writer and spokeswoman. The two were on a business trip in Hawaii at the time.

Amid special procedures to safeguard secret CIA and Navy SEAL missions, the court-martial of a Navy lieutenant accused in the death of an Iraqi prisoner began Monday. Lt. Andrew K. Ledford, a SEAL team member and 1995 graduate of the Naval Academy, is accused of assault, dereliction of duty, filing a false report and conduct unbecoming an officer in the death of Manadel Jamadi at the Abu Ghraib prison on Nov. 4, 2003.

A military jury Thursday ordered a Marine sergeant to receive a reprimand and be demoted to corporal for his guilty plea in the death of another Marine during a 2002 training exercise. The jury rejected a request from prosecutors to order that Sgt. Cody Ottley receive a bad-conduct discharge. Ottley admitted that he mistakenly put live ammunition into his rifle rather than blanks.

The Marine Corps announced Friday that not only will two aviators be court-martialed for the accident that killed 20 people in an Italian cable car tragedy, but dereliction-of-duty charges also may be lodged against four senior officers. The ruling by Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, commander of the Marine Corps forces in the Atlantic region, sets in motion what is shaping up to be an unparalleled episode in U.S. military justice.

Firefights were crackling across sand-fringed roads and it was too dangerous to call in a medevac helicopter when a U.S. Army captain shot a wounded Iraqi insurgent in what was described as a "mercy killing," according to testimony in a military court here Wednesday. Capt. Rogelio Maynulet is charged with murder and dereliction of duty in the May 21 shooting of a driver whose car U.S. forces had been chasing in southern Iraq.

An Army officer testified Friday that the nation's former top enlisted soldier twice asked her to go to bed with him and grabbed her by the arm in an apparent attempt to kiss her. Maj. Michelle Gunzelman, 35, is the second of six female accusers to testify in the sexual misconduct court-martial of Sgt. Maj. Gene C. McKinney, who is charged with harassing, assaulting and threatening the women.

Former colleagues of Brenda L. Hoster, the first of five women to make sexual-misconduct allegations against the Army's top enlisted man, described her Tuesday as a disgruntled person whose accounts of what happened have changed. "Every time the story was told there was a little more to it," said retired Command Sgt. Major Jimmy Spencer. The testimony centered on Hoster's allegations that Sergeant Major of the Army Gene C.

Thirteen sailors have been court-martialed or discharged for alleged homosexual activity at the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan, and a continuing investigation may result in charges against several others, including some officers, Navy officials said Tuesday. Civilian and Navy sources familiar with the inquiry said as many as 40 more Navy enlisted men and officers are being investigated, including two commanders and three lieutenants. Officials from the San Diego Veterans Assn.

SAN DIEGO -- Eleven young Marines testified before a military jury Wednesday that one of their drill instructors repeatedly forced them to drink so much water that they vomited, a practice specifically banned by Marine regulations. Testimony about the use of the technique called "water-bowl incentive training" during boot camp came as military prosecutors portrayed Sgt.