Top Army sexual assault prosecutor is suspended in assault case

WASHINGTON - The Army said Thursday that a prosecutor responsible for sexual assault cases was under investigation in the alleged sexual assault of a female officer in 2011.

Lt. Col. Joseph “Jay” Morse, the Army lawyer in charge of nearly two dozen prosecutors specializing in sexual assault and other sensitive cases, has been suspended while the case is under investigation, Army officials said.

“We can confirm that this matter is currently under investigation and that the individual in question has been suspended from duties, pending the outcome of the investigation,” said George Wright, an Army spokesman.

A female Army lawyer alleges that Morse tried to kiss her and grope her against her will, officials said, confirming a story in Stars and Stripes, a Pentagon-funded newspaper that reports on the military.

Morse was the lead prosecutor in the case against Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who was convicted in the 2012 massacre of 16 Afghan civilians and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Morse case is one of several in the last year in which military officials, including several responsible for sexual assault training or prosecution, have been accused in sexual assault cases.

In May, Air Force Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski, head of the branch’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program, was accused of sexual battery after an incident outside a nightclub near the Pentagon. He was later acquitted.