CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SAN DIEGO
A Camp Pendleton Marine recently released from prison after a military appeals court overturned his rape and assault conviction will not be retried, the Marine Corps announced Friday.
Sgt. Brian Foster, 35, was convicted by a military jury in 1999 of raping his wife. He was sentenced to 17 years and freed after serving nine.
But a military appeals court in February overturned the rape conviction, citing lack of evidence and a decision by the judge to allow an expert on sexual assault to testify more as an advocate for the prosecution than a neutral observer.
In ordering Foster released from the prison at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., the court ruled that the Corps could retry Foster on charges of assault and making threats. The charges arose during a bitter divorce and custody battle.
Brig. Gen. Robert Ruark, the convening authority in the case, has decided against a retrial, the Corps announced. When he was charged, Foster was a military police officer at Camp Pendleton. Since being released from prison, he has been assigned to a mobilization command in Kansas City. Ruark said Foster is due back pay and allowance, which reportedly could exceed $250,000.
-- Tony Perry
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