Service women and men raped by fellow members of the military listen to Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) as she announces new legislation to change how sexual assault is handled in the military. Left to right: Panayiota Bertzikis (Military Rape Crisis Center), Terri Odom, Heath Phillips, and Tara Wise (National Women Veterans Association of America). | /Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces dismissed charges against Stephen Prather, a former Air Force enlisted man who was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in a drunken encounter. The court concluded the law had resulted "in an unconstitutional burden shift to the accused." | /George Bridges/MCT

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Tough talk by Marine Commandant James Amos complicates sexual-assault cases

The Marine Corps commandant wanted to snuff out rape in the ranks. However, his well-meaning but overly blunt talk instead complicated Marine sexual-assault cases worldwide and raised troubling questions about whether accused Marines will get a fair shake. » read more

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Special Report

Army slow to act as crime-lab worker falsified, botched tests

A McClatchy investigation reveals that mistakes by an analyst at the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory, near Atlanta, undermined hundreds of criminal cases brought against military personnel. Officials appeared intent on containing the scandal that threatened to discredit the military's most important forensics facility, which handles more than 3,000 criminal cases a year. » read more

Discredited Army analyst built his career around crime lab

The career of military lab analyst Phillip Mills started unraveling the day a colleague made a discovery that would rattle military justice. » read more

Crime-lab worker's errors cast doubt on military verdicts

Life-and-death questions shadow misconduct at the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory, where investigators discovered that a lab analyst cut corners and falsified reports: Were the innocent convicted, and did the guilty go free? » read more

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