A jury found an Air Force general not guilty of sexually assaulting a subordinate

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas – Air Force Maj. Gen. Phillip Stewart was found not guilty Saturday of sexually assaulting a subordinate officer during a tour of duty last year.

The jury of two women and six men, all three-star generals, deliberated for about eight hours Friday afternoon AND Saturday morning before reaching a verdict in an April 2023 sexual assault case at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma.

Stewart didn’t react much when Lieutenant General Caroline Miller, forewoman of the jury, read the verdict.

There was no dispute that they had sex during the April 2023 trip. Stewart pleaded guilty Monday to adultery and unbecoming an officer for having an unprofessional relationship with a lieutenant colonel who worked in his office on 19^t Air forces.

The subject of the trial was to determine whether the woman’s submission without her verbal consent constituted sexual assault, or whether she regretted what she had done the following evening and felt guilty about betraying her husband.

The jury also found Stewart guilty of conduct unbecoming of an officer for sending a woman text messages inviting her to spend the night alone with him in his hotel room during another business trip to Denver, Colorado, in March 2023, and of neglecting to fly within 12 hours of consuming alcoholic beverages during the same trip to Altus.

Stewart decided to convict military judge Col. Matthew Stoffel and the trial was to begin Saturday afternoon.

According to testimony given in court, during the night of sex, the officer accepted an invitation to drink a glass of wine alone with Stewart at his Altus hotel. She invited two soldiers over, who also drank with them for about an hour.

Some time after the two men left, Stewart and the woman began kissing while sitting on the couch. He stood up, held out his hand to her and said, “Come.”

She took his hand and followed him to the bedroom, where they had sex twice. Before she left his room, she reminded him to set his alarm for the next morning, when he would be flying a training plane on their trip to Altus.

In the weeks between the meeting and her reporting to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the woman and Stewart sent each other personal messages.

Rachel VanLandingham, a former Air Force lawyer who closely watched the court-martial trial, said she believed the jury made the right choice given the evidence.

The judge instructed the jury to consider a mistake of fact defense, meaning they should consider whether a sober, reasonable person would have believed there was consent.

“Not saying no does not constitute consent, but her behavior to a reasonable, sober person would indicate consent,” VanLandingham said.

Jury selection began June 18 at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where 18 general officers arrived in person. Jury selection took six days.

On Monday, they began hearing testimony from the officer who accused Stewart of assault, who spent nearly seven hours answering questions. Stars and Stripes is not naming people who identify as victims of sexual assault.

Eleven more witnesses testified before the final arguments were heard. Friday morningAmong them were the female officer’s husband, two privates who had also been drinking at Stewart’s hotel the night of the sex act, and the captain in charge of the flight at Altus, where Stewart had taken over after a night of heavy drinking.