Court-Martial for Air Force General Accused of Assault Being Held

Court-Martial for Air Force General Accused of Sexual Assault Being HeldPhoto byUS Air Force

Maj. Gen. Phillip Stewart, a two-star general who formerly commanded the 19th Air Force prior to his charges, began administrative proceedings Monday at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas. Jury selection is scheduled to start Tuesday, according to an Air Education and Training Command spokesperson.

A sexual encounter during an alcohol-fueled night between an Air Force general and a subordinate officer on a business trip has led to a court-martial for assault set to begin Monday at Joint Base San Antonio.

Maj. Gen. Phillip Stewart is charged with two counts of sexual assault for the encounter with a woman under his command during a trip to Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma in April 2023.

The members of the jury will need to be the same rank or higher than Stewart, not an easy task among the limited numbers of general officers the service has -- fewer than 300 in total and less than half of them being higher or equal rank.

That jury selection process is raising alarm for Stewart's defense team, especially given that only six of the eight jurors who make up the panel need to be in agreement on a guilty verdict to convict the Air Force officer. It is possible for his legal team to seek a bench trial, too, in which a judge would hear the case and render a verdict instead of a jury per reporting by Military.com

Stewart’s attorneys have argued in court hearings that the encounter, which followed a night drinking alcohol with two other military personnel in Stewart’s hotel room, was consensual. Prosecutors contend the woman did not consent and could not have done so because Stewart was her boss and outranked her.

The two-star general is charged with one count for having penetrative sex with the woman and another for performing oral sex on her, according to his charge sheet.

Col. Naomi Dennis, a prosecutor in the case, said during a March hearing that the two had a “beck-and-call” nature to their relationship that made the line between professional and personal difficult to discern.

“She’s recounting the sexual assault to law enforcement agents ... ‘I don’t know how to tell this man no,’ " Dennis said.

Dennis also recounted in the court hearing that the victim said everything she does is to give Stewart what he needs. Their phone messages included her sending him a photo of where his car is parked and running errands on his behalf.

Keith Scherer, who was Stewart’s attorney at the March hearing, argued it was “guilt and shame” that led to the charge rather than nonconsensual sex. He said after the two had sex, the two stayed in bed together and she expressed concern about what she would tell her husband.

Stewart is also accused of dereliction of duty for flying a training aircraft at Altus during that same visit within 12 hours of drinking alcoholic beverages, conduct unbecoming an officer and adultery, according to his charge sheet.

At the time of the charges, Stewart commanded the 19th Air Force, the unit responsible for pilot training within Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Air Force Base.

Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, commander of the training command, fired Stewart in May 2023 and decided last year to move forward with the court-martial despite a report from a hearing in October recommending against it.

“Given that an experienced judge found no probable cause for the sexual assault charges at the Article 32 preliminary hearing, I am deeply troubled by Lt. Gen. Robinson’s decision to refer these charges to a court-martial,” said Sherilyn Bunn, Stewart’s attorney now.

Stewart also faces a dereliction of duty charge for allegedly pursuing an unprofessional relationship, and another specification of that charge for allegedly taking control of an aircraft "after consuming alcohol within 12 hours prior to takeoff," according to the charge sheet.

The redacted charge sheet did not identify the name of the people involved, and Military.com does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.

The only other Air Force general to face a court-martial for sexual crimes, and the first to be convicted, was then-Maj. Gen. William Cooley, formerly the head of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

Cooley, who decided against a jury trial and sought to have his case heard by a judge instead, was convicted of abusive sexual contact in 2022. Military judge Col. Christina Jimenez sentenced Cooley to forfeiture of $10,910 of pay for five months and a letter of reprimand. He was later reduced to the rank of colonel and retired, but ultimately avoided jail time.

Stewart's trial also comes on the heels of the U.S. government's nearly $1 million settlement last year to an Army colonel who filed a civil sexual assault lawsuit against Air Force Gen. John Hyten, who was appointed to vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under former President Donald Trump.