United States v. Coble.

2017 WL 712787 (2017)

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Facts

Coast Guard Ensign (H), a trainee pilot, reported to flight training at NAS Whiting Field. H met with D, an instructor pilot, while conducting her aircraft egress training. After learning that H had served with a friend of his who was also a Coast Guard pilot, D requested and was granted permission to serve as the 'on-wing' instructor pilot. D and H had sexually charged conversations that eventually escalated into phone sex and flirtatious behavior. On H's last training flight, replacing another instructor, H and D had another sexually charged conversation. After landing, H told D they were 'never having sex,' to which D replied, 'I know.' H and three other instructors went to dinner, where H and D consumed alcohol. The group returned to the lobby of the instructors' hotel and continued to drink. While seated next to H, D surreptitiously placed his room key on the table adjacent to where ENS H was seated. D then, trying to conceal his invitation from the other instructors, texted H and encouraged her to join him in his room. H took the room key but responded to the text and declined D's request. H returned to her room and changed into 'underwear, sweatpants, and a sports bra.' D remained in the lobby of his hotel. D was informed by a hotel employee that there was an incoming telephone call for him on the hotel's phone. D testified that the phone call came from H. The employee that answered the phone testified that the caller identified herself as D's wife, but noticed that the Caller ID indicated the call came from H's hotel. H testified that she did not remember making any call. After D received the phone call, he went directly to H's room. D knocked on the door and kissed her when she opened it. She kissed him back, then, 'realized what was going on, and . . . pushed him off,' saying 'we can't do this.' H then recalls D being on top of her, holding her wrists down, and 'squeezing them tightly,' while 'trying to insert his penis into [her] vagina'; while she said, '[n]o,' D persisted and started 'laughing,' saying 'I didn't know how strong you were,' and 'you're such a tease.' H 'laid there, and . . . let him put his penis inside [her]' because she 'couldn't fight him back anymore.' The next morning, H made restricted reports of sexual assault to a Sexual Assault Response Coordinator and the squadron flight surgeon and went on emergency leave. In February 2015, H made a pretextual phone call to D which was recorded by Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). D acknowledged that H told him 'no' and 'stop' and was squirming, but reiterated that he thought she was being 'playful.' D asserted that at no time did he force H, reminding her that 'when you would say like, 'stop,' I was like, 'hey if you want me to go, just-just tell me.'' H asked D why he pushed himself on her and why he held her wrists after '[she] kept saying 'no' and to 'think about [their] careers, think about [their] families. D responded, 'my story is not going to change . . . [I]t was a playful thing and I did say, 'hey if you want me to go, tell me,' but you never once said . . . '[o]kay, I want you to leave.' H why he did not stop that night, and D answered, 'I was under the impression that it was-that we were joking around and that it was like that you didn't want to, but you wanted to, and that's the impression I was on . . . .' NCIS interviewed D and D denied going to her hotel room and having sex with H. The appellant repeated those denials even after the NCIS agent advised him that lying to an NCIS agent was a crime. D was found guilty and appealed.

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