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4 Marines to get courts-martial in Japan
2008-03-05
The U.S. military will court-martial four Marines in Japan for the alleged rape of a Japanese woman, a Marine Corps official said Thursday. The general courts-martial will begin next month, said Master Gunnery Sgt. John Cordero of the Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni in southern Japan. The four Marines -- accused of an attack on a 19-year-old woman in October -- were charged by the military in December. Japanese authorities investigated the incident but local prosecutors dropped the case in November. Officials refused to provide reasons for not pursuing prosecution. Lans Cpl. Larry A. Dean, 20, will face the court in April and Sgt. Lanaeus J. Braswell, 25, in May, Cordero said. Dates for two other Marines -- Gunnery Sgt. Carl M. Anderson, 39, and Gunnery Sgt. Jarvis D. Raynor, 34, have not been set yet, he said, adding that the military is not releasing their hometowns. The decision to court-martial them followed preliminary hearings last month, according to Cordero. The move came as anger has risen on the southern island of Okinawa over the arrest in February of another serviceman on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl. Japanese authorities dropped that case after the girl withdrew her complaint, but the U.S. military is still investigating. In the Iwakuni case, media reports say the woman met the servicemen at a restaurant in Hiroshima, and the men drove her to a nearby parking lot where they allegedly raped and robbed her. Authorities were not releasing details. About 50,000 U.S. troops are based in Japan under a security pact between the two countries. Many Japanese complain of crime, pollution and noise associated with the bases.
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