U.S. Airman Pleads Not Guilty to Rape
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A U.S. airman charged with raping a Japanese woman in a parking lot in June denied committing the crime, telling a court today that the sex was consensual.
“We did have sex,” Staff Sgt. Timothy Woodland, 24, told Naha District Court in the first session of his trial. “It was consensual. I didn’t rape her. There was no assault or violence . . . involved.”
Prosecutors charge that Woodland grabbed the woman from behind, forced her onto the hood of a car and raped her. The victim was not in court but is scheduled to appear at the next session, Oct. 9.
Woodland faces a minimum of two years in prison if convicted of raping the 20-year-old woman.
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