{"id":13307,"date":"2018-12-18T18:34:26","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T18:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/12\/18\/alleged-victim-testifies-in-rape-case-against-army-sexual-assault-prosecutor\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:44:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:44:24","slug":"alleged-victim-testifies-in-rape-case-against-army-sexual-assault-prosecutor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/12\/18\/alleged-victim-testifies-in-rape-case-against-army-sexual-assault-prosecutor\/","title":{"rendered":"Alleged victim testifies in rape case against Army sexual assault prosecutor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FORT BELVOIR, Va. \u2015 For the first time since the Army preferred charges on the case, the woman at the center of rape accusations against an Army special victims prosecutor<\/a> appeared as a witness Monday in a pre-trial motions hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capt. Scott Hockenberry<\/a> is scheduled to go to court-martial for three counts of forcible intercourse and three counts of sexual assault consummated by a battery against the woman, also an Army judge advocate, while they were both stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma<\/a>, in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a consensual relationship that goes 100 percent to the alleged victim\u2019s credibility,\u201d Brian Pistera, Hockenberry\u2019s attorney, argued before judge Col. Daniel Brookhart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army Times does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hockenberry appeared with a new uniformed attorney, Capt. Amanda Staples, and two new civilian attorneys, Richmond, Virginia-based Brian Pristera and Daniel Conway, after letting go of his Kansas-based civilian attorney and one uniformed counselor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team presented half a dozen motions in preparation for trial, arguing to suppress an incriminating phone call, to call a witness who could speak to the victim\u2019s martial arts background and to compel a new Article 32 hearing based on the victim\u2019s inconsistent statements to the prosecutor, which came to light after the case had been referred to court-martial in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also hedged their bets, submitting a list of witnesses who could testify to Hockenberry\u2019s character at a sentencing hearing, and moving to have his six-month office relocation at Fort Sill treated as unlawful pretrial confinement, which could take time off of a possible prison sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beginning of the hearing focused on how much of the soldiers’ previous relationship will be admissible in the court-martial, as a legal regulation bars prior sexual history from being used as evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue also dominated the Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a civilian grand jury proceeding, last year. The victim testified for more than an hour in a closed session on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defense has argued that because of the mutually agreed upon dominant-submissive nature of their relationship, the incidents described in the charges were part of their consensual dynamic and not assaults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The woman first sought a protective order against Hockenberry in Oklahoma in mid-2016, before reporting the incidents to the Army and opening a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She alleges that in separate incidents, Hockenberry punched her, held a knife to her throat and forced her to have sex without a condom, violating specific rules she had laid out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In text messages and recorded phone calls, Hockenberry acknowledged he had hit her and that he had broken their agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defense wants one of those phone calls thrown out. It was made Aug. 25, 2017, the day after the victim filed a report with Army Criminal Investigation Command, and agents were recording it as evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It had been a couple weeks since the two had seen each other, and the victim had been ignoring his text messages. It starts with discussion about a credit card Hockenberry had been trying to get, using the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to get the annual fee waived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The subject then turned to the incidents she had just reported to authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

” \u2018I\u2019ll only hit the soft parts of you,\u2019 \u201c Hockenberry said after the victim confronted him about punching her, according to prosecutor Lt. Col. Carol Brewer, who quoted the call during the Article 32 in January. \u201c \u2019I thought you were a fighter. Why do you have such a glass jaw?\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defense has invoked the victim\u2019s martial arts experience multiple times, arguing that she has training that would have allowed her to fend off any alleged attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\t