1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,000 2 00:00:07,140 --> 00:00:09,720 the first court martial trial of a 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,200 general officer in the 75 year history 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,422 of the United States Air Force has come 5 00:00:14,422 --> 00:00:16,533 to an end . Major General William T . 6 00:00:16,533 --> 00:00:18,589 Cooley , former commander of the Air 7 00:00:18,589 --> 00:00:20,700 Force research laboratory was accused 8 00:00:20,700 --> 00:00:22,811 of one charge of sexual assault under 9 00:00:22,811 --> 00:00:24,811 article 1 20 of the uniform code of 10 00:00:24,811 --> 00:00:26,367 military justice with three 11 00:00:26,367 --> 00:00:28,470 specifications . General Cooley was 12 00:00:28,470 --> 00:00:30,840 found guilty of abusive sexual contact 13 00:00:30,850 --> 00:00:33,072 when he forcibly kissed the victim in a 14 00:00:33,072 --> 00:00:36,930 car on August 12 , 2018 . A military 15 00:00:36,930 --> 00:00:38,819 judge sentenced general Cooley to 16 00:00:38,819 --> 00:00:40,763 reprimand and forfeiture of nearly 17 00:00:40,763 --> 00:00:44,240 $11,000 per month for five months . You 18 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:46,296 know , the imposition of a letter of 19 00:00:46,296 --> 00:00:48,470 reprimand uh and significant financial 20 00:00:48,470 --> 00:00:50,210 penalties is actually a very 21 00:00:50,210 --> 00:00:52,321 significant sentence . And so I think 22 00:00:52,321 --> 00:00:54,377 the military judge here did send a a 23 00:00:54,377 --> 00:00:56,377 message that she was in fact taking 24 00:00:56,377 --> 00:00:58,599 this seriously . Uh and there certainly 25 00:00:58,599 --> 00:01:00,880 could potentially be have an impact on 26 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:02,824 his retirement grade if he were to 27 00:01:02,824 --> 00:01:04,547 retire based on that letter of 28 00:01:04,547 --> 00:01:07,260 reprimand . And so this was by no means 29 00:01:07,270 --> 00:01:09,720 um , an insignificant punishment to the 30 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:11,331 contrary was actually a very 31 00:01:11,331 --> 00:01:13,331 significant punishment . During the 32 00:01:13,331 --> 00:01:15,553 nine day trial , 10 witnesses testified 33 00:01:15,553 --> 00:01:17,609 including the victim and hundreds of 34 00:01:17,609 --> 00:01:19,776 electronic messages were introduced as 35 00:01:19,776 --> 00:01:21,887 evidence . General Cooley himself did 36 00:01:21,887 --> 00:01:23,998 not testify . What I think it says to 37 00:01:23,998 --> 00:01:25,998 survivors of sexual assault is that 38 00:01:25,998 --> 00:01:28,164 they can feel safe to come forward and 39 00:01:28,164 --> 00:01:30,220 report what happened that they don't 40 00:01:30,220 --> 00:01:32,387 have to be afraid of the status or the 41 00:01:32,387 --> 00:01:34,387 rank of the individual who offended 42 00:01:34,387 --> 00:01:36,387 against them and that the Air Force 43 00:01:36,387 --> 00:01:38,276 will well here then we'll take it 44 00:01:38,276 --> 00:01:40,331 seriously . We'll investigate it and 45 00:01:40,331 --> 00:01:42,498 where appropriate , will prosecute the 46 00:01:42,498 --> 00:01:44,498 individual who who offended against 47 00:01:44,498 --> 00:01:46,553 them again without fear or favor and 48 00:01:46,553 --> 00:01:48,776 without regard to their rancor status . 49 00:01:48,776 --> 00:01:50,831 The Air Force case began in december 50 00:01:50,831 --> 00:01:52,887 2019 , when the victim in her spouse 51 00:01:52,887 --> 00:01:54,998 reported the assault to the Air Force 52 00:01:54,998 --> 00:01:56,942 Office of Special investigations . 53 00:01:56,942 --> 00:01:59,053 Major General Cooley is very thankful 54 00:01:59,053 --> 00:02:01,053 um for the judges compassion here . 55 00:02:01,053 --> 00:02:03,109 It's been a very trying time for the 56 00:02:03,109 --> 00:02:03,080 better part of the last four years . 57 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:05,191 And our intent here moving forward is 58 00:02:05,191 --> 00:02:07,247 to try and repair some relationships 59 00:02:07,247 --> 00:02:09,800 both within within the Cooley family . 60 00:02:09,810 --> 00:02:12,032 And of course with the Air Force , he's 61 00:02:12,032 --> 00:02:15,010 had uh in an otherwise unblemished more 62 00:02:15,010 --> 00:02:17,066 than three decade career , He's made 63 00:02:17,066 --> 00:02:19,730 significant contributions to our nation , 64 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,047 in our nation's security , both in the 65 00:02:22,047 --> 00:02:24,102 past and going forward here . And so 66 00:02:24,102 --> 00:02:26,047 we're looking forward to repairing 67 00:02:26,047 --> 00:02:26,040 those relationships .