We the People against Military Injustice

My name is Benjamin Kent and I am starting this petition in support of and on behalf of a former Petty Officer of the United States Navy, who was charged with two specifications of indecent liberties with a male under 16 years of age, found not guilty of one but guilty on the second only after the military judge made changes to the charge. Since his conviction and for over 15 years he has kept a clean record, steadfastly maintained that he is innocent and if I may say so for good cause, because he IS, and I know that to be a fact, as I will soon explain.

At the age of 12, I was forced to commit perjury during a military general court martial about being sexually molested by a military member, who was an older friend to my brother and me. This ruined his navy career, incarcerated him for 11 months, has cost him tens of thousands of dollars and is still ruining his life.

It all was to start on December 17, 1991. Bill was leaving for Christmas vacation and I was being kept home from school by my mother due to a fever. But in reality it was the beginning of a sinister plot to destroy Bills creditability because, that day before leaving, Bill filed a report with his Division Officer that one of his supervisors was engaging in adultery, an imprisonable offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. That officer, William J. Corace Jr., was my mothers boyfriend. They also told me that I wouldnt be able to see Bill after he left the next day to spend the Christmas holiday at his parents home. My brother and I were also told by my mom and her boyfriend that when my parents divorce was final we could be put in a foster home if my mom didnt get custody, since my dad was out to sea most of the time. The next morning (the 18th) my mom, her boyfriend and his friend, Naval Investigative Service (NIS) Agent Mark Politi, got to together and came up with a story that would discredit Bills allegation that Corace was committing adultery with my mom. I was kept home from my last day of school before the Christmas holiday recess so that we could go over what I was to say as my part of the story. Although I didnt think of it in those terms at the time, what my mom, her boyfriend and his Navy friends did was cook-up a conspiracy to use the militarys court martial system to frame my friend Bill for sex crimes against me that never happened. The scheme was conceived to start with my mom claiming to get an anonymous phone call from a woman telling her that she overheard me telling another boy that Bill sleeps and touches me sexually. My mom would then notify Corace, since he was an officer with base security. Corace would then notify base security Chief Charles Pinero and Politi, who as an NIS agent would initiate and be in charge of the investigation. I was told that my role was to deny the accusation, and then after being questioned I would cry and say that it happened.

So it all went in to action one night when I came in I was confronted and questioned by Chief Pinero of the Navy Base Police and Agent Mark Politi of NIS, asking me if I told a friend, that I was, sexually touched by Bill. I told the officers NO but it wasnt dropped and the two officers went into the other room. I began to get scared and confused listening to the officers talk and when they returned they asked me several questions and I kept on saying that nothing happened. But, Chief Pinero and the NIS Agent would then tell me that something did happen and say well didnt Bill do something like this and they would show me by putting their hand on my leg and moving it towards my private area and rubbing my privates. I kept on saying no but neither would listen and they kept on badgering me and insisting that it did happen that after a while I just said yes to get them off my back. But they didnt leave, they continued their interrogation and I was asked if Bill ever slept in my bed and I said no but I have lain in bed with him watching television. I was asked if Bill ever touched me or if anything ever happened while in bed with him. Once again I said no but they both kept on saying and doing things like did this happen., did that happen, did Bill ever do this while in bed with you..and so on, which I answered no to all their questions and examples. Once again they both left the room and when they returned it was just like in the beginning with all the questions and assumptions. So, told them that one time I felt something hard against my back moving up and down my back. Next I was being asked questions if Bill stuck his penis in my butt, if the object against my back was wet, and if I noticed if Bill had an erection. All were answered with a no, but they both kept on pressuring me and giving me examples and in the end I agreed to the example they gave me that he told me to get in bed with only my underwear on, that it was his penis, that he did have an erection and I saw a wet spot on his underwear when I got out of bed. All were lies but I got them off my back or so I thought. I knew it was Bills hand against my back because when I got up I saw his arm between us. I couldnt see if he had an erection or wet spot on his underwear because there was a sheet between us covering him up when I got up and went into my own bed. But like I said I thought it was over but it wasnt. Next I was asked if Bill ever touched my privates while at his BEQ room, and just as before, I told them no and after all was said and done, I agreed that Bill touched me in his BEQ room and while driving in the car. All of which were lies coerced by Chief Pinero and Agent Politi.

Then one night I was introduced to two counselors from the Victims Services Agency. They were nicer than the police officer and NIS agent because when they asked me a question and I told them no they didnt badger me or force me into saying something that was a lie. They asked me why I told what I did to the police and I told them that I just said it so they would leave me alone. I met with the counselors I believe twice and then after that I never heard or seen of them again. This kind of confused me too because I was hoping that they would have to testify in court too, but they never did.

During what the military called an investigation hearing I testified just as I was told to do so. I remember a police officer and lawyer going over questions with me and continually saying that I cant say that anything sexual happened because there is no evidence of sexual abuse. So they showed me how to demonstrate my private area getting touched. But when I showed the judge I made sure that I didnt touch or grab my privates only brushed them, and I believe that the judge said it was for like 3 seconds. The investigation hearing only took about 2 hours or so and afterwards my mom and I meet with a navy lawyer and police officer. During this meeting I felt as if I was a prisoner and I was being interrogated by the military lawyers and police. I say interrogation because the two Navy Lawyers were more demanding than the police officer and the NIS Agent.

Over the next couple of weeks I meet with the same lawyers about five times or so. The military lawyers told me that what I said in court is not good enough and we need to go over some things. Well, it all started just as it did before and I also told the Navy lawyers that nothing happened and I just said yes to the police to get them off my back. First the police told me to lie and now I was being told to lie again. So despite my denying that anything happened the lawyers continued until they got me to say that what I told the police was the truth. Both the military lawyers were so intimidating in telling me what to say in court, what could happen to me, my brother, my mom and dad, what could happen to Bill, that I didnt know what was actually happening or what I was saying, that I agreed to what the Navy lawyers told me to say. I only listened because I was scared that if I didnt, my brother and I would be taken from our parents (who were going through a nasty divorce) and put in a home or that something would happen to my dad (who was in the military).

During and after the trial was over it was a forbidden topic to discuss it with anyone. As time went on I started to realize that she wouldnt discuss it because she was hiding something. As my snooping became better and after talking to some old friends I finally found out what my mom was keeping from me. It was the fact that she along with many military officials had me lie in court to discredit a friend of mine that knew of her affair. My first thought was, Oh God please forgive me! It really bothered me, knowing what I did was wrong and how I turned my back on a good friend. So when I was about 14 years old I took a chance and wrote a letter to the Navy letting them know what really happened and that what I testified to was a lie. For some reason I never heard back from them. When I turned 18, my life began to falter and I was living in and out of my moms home a lot and had to find places to live sometimes. At one point I was living on the street out of a truck scrounging for money and food, that I thought this was my punishment for what I have done wrong in the past. Then one night, I found a book called, Left Behind, which helped me understand how I was feeling and what I was going through. This book pointed me in the right direction to reclaiming my faith in God and becoming a Christian, which helped me find a way to ease my pain and sorrow through prayer and faith in God that one day I would be able prove Bills innocence.

I do not and will not justify my committing perjury. However, it is clear that I as a child witness was coerced, instructed, told, terrified and manipulated by several members of the military, to give false testimony of being sexually molested. I was not in the proper frame of mind to know exactly what the ramifications of my false testimony and actions would be, as I was an easily influential twelve year old dealing with the threats of being placed in a foster home, the actions of my mother cheating on my father, rejection from my mother because I didnt agree with her dating while she was married, the upcoming custody battle between my mother and father and the failed relationship I had with my father due to his being underway at sea most of the time. Again, this is not to justify what I did, however, it is a valid and relevant issue that I was emotionally traumatized by these circumstances and at twelve years old was not in the proper frame of mind to adequately make rational life altering decisions.

Because of high emotions evoked by child sexual abuse, many times people with evidence that can exonerate the wrongly accused are reluctant to come forward or as in this case with the doctor that examined me and the counselors from the New York State Victims Service Agency that investigated the allegations just werent requested to appear before the court to give testimony that there was no signs sexual abuse. Also, once charges are alleged, officials are reluctant to drop charges even when it is obvious they could be false. I am sorry to say but this is especially true when dealing with the military. As current events are showing, they can convict anyone of molesting a child after many years from the time that the so called molestation occurred and even if it is after 20 years of the child not saying anything. This is true, as they have done too many. So, if the Judicial System can arrest someone for this after many years and then convict them if found guilty, then it would only be judicially right to exonerate someone that was innocent but convicted due to coercion, perjury, prosecutorial misconduct, etc. Sadly, we live in a world where crimes can even be committed by those that are expected to protect us. Our instincts are to protect and defend defenseless children. It is a measure of a civilized society. It is equally instinctive to presume guilt. That tendency is even stronger when the accused must prove a negative that what he or she is accused of didn't happen and the accuser is a physician with a stack of degrees or, equally potent, a child. These combinations have led to countless criminal convictions: parents, day care providers, teachers, neighbors, even when the charges cannot be supported by objective scientific evidence, or when there was no physical evidence at all to support the claims. The American Judicial System is having second looks at many of these cases, acknowledging that the system convicted innocent people, destroyed families and ruined childhoods. A second look at the processes that led to these miscarriages of justice is essential, because unless the judicial system learns from their mistakes, it will continue to repeat them. But some judges have come to understand the terrible injustices that have occurred, and issued good rulings. Over the past two decades, suggestive and coercive child-interviewing techniques, combined with junk science, have sent innocent people to prison and destroyed many families. If we wish to live in a just society we must revisit all of the dubious convictions resulting from the child sex-abuse panic.

Prayerfully, we are not a society that gives up on justice. At some point somebody in the American Judicial System needs to step in, be mature and say hey we made a mistake and correct this horrifying ordeal for him. If this does not occur for him, quite assuredly, he will continue the horrifying experience of being considered a pedophile a sexual offender one branded by society which in turn damages his reputation each day more and more. You will be showing to society that justice is not blind and that even if you can prove your innocent the judicial system just plainly doesnt care. He was failed over and over by not only me, but also by the Military Judicial System that he believed and trusted in, the question now is will the American Judicial System fail him too? It's frightening to realize that we live in a society where such terrible things can happen to a decent and law abiding person such as Bill. But what would be even more terrible would be to live in such a society where few were willing to try to help.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me at [email protected] or you may reach me at (904)229-7773. I have kept Bills last name anonymous because he has been put through fifteen years of being wrongfully treated by society but if you wish I am authorized to give out his contact information via email or phone.

With my best wishes and hopes that his nightmare will finally come to an end, my thanks to you for your assistance and concerns. Thank you for your time and I hope that you agree with me and sign this petition in standing with me against a serious case of military injustice.