McKinney combative under cross-examination

http://www.cnn.com/US/9803/04/mckinney.pm/index.html

CNN

McKinney combative under cross-examination
Gene McKinney
McKinney
March 4, 1998
Web posted at: 7:43 p.m. EST (0043 GMT)

FORT BELVOIR, Virginia (CNN) -- The Army's former top enlisted man testified Wednesday at his sexual-misconduct trial that he saw "nothing inappropriate" about visiting a female aide in her hotel room after midnight while wearing gym shorts.

Command Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney is accused of pressuring six military women for sex. One of his accusers, Sgt. Maj. Brenda Hoster, said she was accosted by McKinney in her hotel room in Hawaii in 1996. McKinney testified that he actually went to her room to fire her for incompetence.

"You went to a female subordinate's room after midnight, in your shorts, after you had been drinking... for a closed-door meeting to tell her it was time to move on?" Army prosecutor Lt. Col. Michael Child asked during a cross-examination in which McKinney became tense and combative.

McKinney tersely replied that hotel rooms double as offices on business trips. "I found nothing inappropriate about that," he said.

No paper trail on Hoster

Child also pressed McKinney on the lack of a standard Army paper trail documenting his purported dissatisfaction with Hoster, who went public with allegations against him in February 1997 after he was appointed to a blue-ribbon panel investigating sexual discrimination in the Army.

McKinney conceded he made no written record of his conversation with Hoster and told nobody else that he wanted to fire her.

Brenda Hoster

Hoster

McKinney, 47, is on trial on 19 counts including indecent assault, adultery, making threats and obstructing justice. Defense attorney Charles Gittins said at a press conference at the close of Wednesday's proceedings that he expects all redirect questioning to conclude on Thursday and that the court-martial panel will take Friday off and return for closing arguments Monday.

As McKinney was cross-examined Wednesday, he showed flashes of anger several times, jutting his chin in defiance as the prosecutor sarcastically described the scene in the hotel room with Hoster.

The prosecutor suggested McKinney was floundering in his job and was seeking a scapegoat in Hoster, who was then his speechwriter.

"Wasn't it a fact that you were in over your head in that assignment, not Sgt. Maj. Hoster?" Child asked.

McKinney bristled and replied, "I don't agree with that, sir."

Telephone records

Prosecutors also challenged McKinney's version of the events of the night of October 30, 1996, when Sgt. Christine Roy claims she was coerced into having sex with him even though she was almost eight months pregnant.

Telephone records indicate that a short call was made from Roy's home in Severn, Maryland, to McKinney's home in Fort Myer, Virginia. She testified that she made the call to tell McKinney she was leaving for the 45-minute drive to his house.

Under cross-examination, McKinney testified that he did not speak to her on October 30, 1996.

Asked how that could be with phone records indicating a call was made, McKinney said he had experienced occasional problems with his answering machine in the past. "My answering machine is sporadic," he said and then repeated, "I never spoke to (the sergeant) on October 30, 1996."

However, he acknowledged he called Roy and she called him several times during the days around October 30.

McKinney has testified that he was at a maintenance garage in Fort Myer at about the time he was alleged to have had sexual intercourse with Roy. But the authenticity of an entry log recording his presence at the garage is in question. Prosecutors believe it may have been altered.

Recorded conversation

McKinney began his second day of testimony Wednesday by denying that he asked another accuser, Staff Sgt. Christine Fetrow, for sex, threatened her, assaulted her or pressed her to lie to investigators about their relationship. Fetrow accounts for 10 of the 19 charges against McKinney.

The first of McKinney's accusers to testify at his court-martial, Fetrow agreed to let Army investigators record her telephone conversations with McKinney shortly after Hoster went public with her charges.

On a tape of one conversation, McKinney said: "You don't have to get involved. All you have to do is tell them we talked a lot. You call the office some times because you want to talk about career development and that kind of stuff."

"That's it," he said. "That's all they need to know."

McKinney testified that the tape, which is one of the Army's chief pieces of evidence for the obstruction charge, did not include his full remarks. He said he had no intention of asking Fetrow to lie, as she has testified she believed he was doing.

Defense attorneys claim McKinney's six accusers are lying for various reasons -- such as revenge for the alleged firing in Hoster's case. McKinney testified that another accuser may have wanted to get back at him after he admonished her for flirting with him.

McKinney describes his marriage

During five hours of questioning by his own lawyer Tuesday and Wednesday, McKinney was calm and relaxed in denying all 19 charges against him and rebutting the women's claims point-by-point.

Prior to his cross-examination, McKinney -- led by one of his defense lawyers -- described his 26-year marriage and the 1996 death of his only child in an auto accident. He testified that he enjoyed a good marriage but acknowledged unspecified past problems with his wife, Wilhemina.

She looked on in the courtroom, dabbing tears from her eyes, as he discussed how the March 1996 death of their son, Zubari, in a car accident, had strengthened their marriage.

McKinney became the first black to rise to the post of sergeant major of the Army, the top enlisted man's job. Until the charges against him led to his reassignment last October, he was responsible for the welfare of the 410,000 enlisted men and women as their Pentagon advocate. He faces 55 1/2 years in prison if convicted.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.


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Related stories:

* McKinney accuser asked to re-enact assault - February 18, 1998
* McKinney accuser warned him she might go public - February 18, 1998
* McKinney accuser: stayed silent to protect career - February 17, 1998
* McKinney's chief accuser denies faking evidence - February 12, 1998
* McKinney accuser omitted sensational charges out of embarrassment - February 11, 1998
* Defense: McKinney's contact with accuser appropriate - February 11, 1998
* Lie alleged, tape played at McKinney court-martial - February 10, 1998
* Prosecution calls McKinney 'Jekyll and Hyde' - February 9, 1998

Related sites:
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* Welcome to the U.S. Army
* Army Policy on EO and Sexual Harrassment
* Department of Defense: Sexual Harassment

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