The prosecution's chief witness in an Air Force instructor's sexual-assault trial took the stand Tuesday and talked of adopting a “zombie” expression after their liaisons in basic training.
“I would go blank. I wouldn't think about it. After it would happen, I would have a blank face on my way to the bathroom,” she said. “I wanted to forget that it happened.”
The case against Senior Airman Christopher Oliver, who's facing life in prison if convicted on a sexual-assault charge, hinges on the believability of the woman, identified as Victim 3.
Oliver is one of 33 instructors who've fallen under investigation for illicit activities with 67 recruits and technical school trainees in the Air Force's biggest sex scandal.
The most serious charges against him are aggravated sexual assault, two allegations of aggravated sexual contact, and forcible sodomy.
Oliver's defense team didn't try to knock down evidence that showed he was a married training instructor who jumped at the chance to have sex with trainees, even the recruits he was training.
His lawyers didn't challenge a woman identified as Airman 2 when she told of a sexual encounter in his office or a discussion they later had about having sex with another recruit.
“'Don't worry about it. Let me quarterback this,'” Maj. Christopher Eason, the lead prosecutor, quoted Oliver as telling the woman after she asked how they could have sex during basic training.
The woman liked him and wanted to have sex again, so Airman 2 said Oliver outlined a rendezvous.
That was one of at least two consensual relationships for Oliver. But Airman 3 insisted she submitted only out of fear that he would ruin her career.
Defense attorneys hammered her relentlessly. They picked apart disparities in statements she initially made to investigators and later during an evidentiary hearing, and brought in witnesses to contradict her testimony.
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