Japanese Drop Rape Charges Against Marine

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
March 1, 2008 By Martin Fackler
TOKYO — An American marine accused of raping a 14-year-old girl on Okinawa was released by the Japanese police on Friday after the girl dropped her accusation, the police said.
It was unclear if the marine’s release could help defuse the furor in Japan over the case, which had led to wide questioning of the military alliance with the United States and the presence of more than 40,000 American troops here. Fallout from the accusation prompted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to express deep regret to the Japanese prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, on Wednesday.
Earlier, Mr. Fukuda had called the episode “unforgivable” and demanded that the United States take action to prevent crimes by its service members.
The marine’s arrest on Feb. 11 incited protests on Okinawa, where there are raw memories of a 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl by three American servicemen.
The marine accused in this case, Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott, 38, was returned to Marine custody after Japanese prosecutors dropped the rape charges. Sergeant Hadnott had denied the charges, saying that he only kissed the girl as he gave her a ride home.
It was unclear why she retracted her story. Japanese authorities seemed to suggest that she had decided against legal action, possibly to avoid the glare of public attention. Some media commentators and blogs had begun to question why the girl was in a car with the marine.
Yaichiro Yamashiki, the chief prosecutor at the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office, said the decision to drop the charges had been made “out of consideration for the victim’s feelings,” according to the Kyodo news agency. “The girl herself wants to be left in peace,” he was quoted as saying.
The rape accusation, and recent alcohol-related arrests of American servicemen on Okinawa, had prompted the American military to hold a “day of reflection” and confine all personnel and their families to bases, homes and work areas.
Local governments had responded by installing surveillance cameras in some areas frequented by American servicemen and by holding joint anticrime patrols with American military members.
 
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