Relationship complicates AFA case

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Mar 24, 2004 | by PAM ZUBECK THE GAZETTE

A former female Air Force Academy cadet who has complained bitterly on national television that her rape allegation was mishandled engaged in sexually explicit online chats with her alleged attacker, according to investigative files.

The files show Kira Mountjoy-Pepka gave her appraisal of her alleged attacker Doncosta Seawell's anatomy, stated her sexual desires in graphic detail and lightheartedly discussed encounters between them.

When appearing on ABC's "20/20" show on Feb. 28, 2003, and again on Oprah Winfrey's Dec. 8, 2003, broadcast, however, she claimed she was brutally raped and then scolded by academy officials for being "a slut." The academy didn't prosecute Seawell.

Seawell claims Mountjoy-Pepka was a willing participant in several interludes in academy dorm rooms in the winter of 2002.

"I've never raped, maimed or intentionally caused anyone bodily harm," he told The Gazette. "What I did do was get myself into compromising situations by being sexually promiscuous."

Seawell, though, pleaded guilty to sodomizing a civilian woman in Los Angeles.

The lurid tale of the relationship between Mountjoy-Pepka and Seawell shows how murky sexual assault investigations can be.

The case is important, because Mountjoy-Pepka and others allege the academy didn't prosecute cases vigorously.

Those claims have triggered a flurry of policy changes, a housecleaning of academy leaders, an Air Force-wide assessment of sexual assault reporting procedures and several investigations, some pending.

No one familiar with the Air Force Academy sexual assault scandal denies the academy had a culture hostile to women. A congressional panel found sexual assault had become "a way of life" there.

The Air Force's investigation questioned the handling of only one case in the past decade, not Mountjoy-Pepka's. It also found prosecution often was stymied by alcohol use, delayed reporting, lack of physical evidence and previous relationships between the accused and accuser.

Mountjoy-Pepka's case illustrates several of those complications. There was no physical evidence because the incident wasn't reported for more than a month. She knew Seawell before the incident, and her boyfriend, not her, reported it.

Mountjoy-Pepka is among those who want to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee -- a step toward getting money for alleged mistreatment and missed educational opportunities.

So far, the Air Force has refused to discuss a payment, but Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., was quoted in American Lawyer magazine recently saying the committee will consider making an exception to the law that shields the military against paying claims to service members.

Allard, who has been supportive of victims, said in May he had reviewed only a few of 57 cases reported to him and that some may have had "no basis at all." He said it wasn't his job to verify the stories.

This week, Allard declined to be interviewed about Mountjoy- Pepka's case after reviewing the online chats.

David M. Jaffe, a former military defense lawyer who defended rape cases at the academy and now practices in Denver, said the rape shield law bars delving into an alleged victim's sexual past to impugn her character. Evidence of prior sexual relations between a victim and accused, however, can be relevant to prove consent, he said.

Moreover, subsequent descriptions of the sexual relations that show a person's willing participation, such as in online chats, could be seen as crucial to demonstrating consent was given, he said.

Air Force and academy officials refused to comment, citing federal privacy laws.

Mountjoy-Pepka's father, Vincent, referred questions to his daughter's attorney, Joe Madonia of Chicago.

Contacted Tuesday, Madonia asked The Gazette to provide transcripts of the chats. He then said he didn't have to time to confer with cocounsel, Jim Cox, and his client to formulate responses to the newspaper's questions.

DIFFERENT STORIES

Mountjoy-Pepka arrived at the academy in June 2001. During basic training, she announced at a meeting of the 1,280-member freshman class, "I really like the guy girl ratio here at the academy, and I really like sex," according to a roommate's statement to academy investigators.

Mountjoy-Pepka met Seawell, a senior cadet flight instructor, in October.

In late December, Seawell was accused of sodomizing a Los Angeles woman who uses a wheelchair. He spent five days in jail before the district attorney refused to file charges.

The academy, though, decided to prosecute.

Seawell said he and the woman, 22, engaged in foreplay involving oral sex, but he grew nervous and couldn't perform because her parents were down the hall. Initially unwilling to cooperate with police, the woman later agreed to testify when the Air Force paid her from a Pentagon victims fund, Seawell said.

The Air Force refused to confirm or deny the payment. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department refused to release the incident report, and the woman could not be reached for comment.

The case pending, Seawell returned to the academy in January. He said he received a photo later that month on his computer of a scantily clad Mountjoy-Pepka.