A junior Air Force Academy cadet will face an Article 32 hearing on Oct. 26 for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman earlier this year.
On Aug. 26,Cadet 2nd Class Mark R. Czerner was charged with two counts of sexual assault and one count of wrongful sexual contact in violation of Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. According to the charge sheet provided by the academy, Czerner allegedly had sex with a woman and digitally penetrated her without her consent, as well as allegedly touched a woman’s breast and inner thigh without her consent, on or about Feb. 14.
The academy would not say whether the victim was also a cadet. The charge sheet said the alleged assault happened on or near the academy campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Article 32 hearings are similar to civilian grand juries. The academy said a preliminary hearing officer will preside over the Article 32, and then submit reports of the proceedings with recommendations to the commandant of cadets. The commandant, serving as the Special Court Martial Convening Authority, will then decide whether to dismiss the case, refer it to a general court-martial or dispose of it through other disciplinary or administrative action.
The academy stressed that the charges are accusations and that the cadets are innocent until proven guilty.
In another case, jury selection began on Oct. 19 in the civilian trial of academy Cadet 1st Class Daniel Ryerson, who is accused of kidnapping and raping a female cadet in Boulder, Colorado. The Daily Camera in Boulder reported that during opening arguments on Oct. 20 in Boulder County Court, Ryerson’s attorneys said that Ryerson and the alleged victim had consensual sex on the evening of Nov. 1, 2014, but that neither remembered, “possibly due to drugs they unknowingly ingested.”
But prosecutors said Ryerson violated “a code [cadets] live by” to look out for their wingmen when he allegedly took the heavily intoxicated victim into a bathroom and had sex with her, the Daily Camera reported. Ryerson’s trial is scheduled to conclude Oct. 27.
Ryerson was also charged separately with contacting the alleged victim in violation of a court order. That case remains open and will proceed once the sexual assault trial is finished.
The academy said Ryerson is on administrative turnback, which allows cadets to take time off from the academy without having to resign, and is not enrolled in classes or at the academy. Although Ryerson is officially considered to be a cadet 1st class, or a senior, academy spokesman John Van Winkle said he is not a cadet in good standing.
