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Marquette to host oral arguments for court martial appeal hearing

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//April 6, 2015//

Marquette to host oral arguments for court martial appeal hearing

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//April 6, 2015//

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Marquette University Law School will host oral arguments for the court martial appeal of a U.S. Air Force sergeant accused of sexually assaulting two girls and endangering his baby son.

According to court documents, Staff Sgt. Joshua Plant was court-martialed for sexually assaulting 16- and 15-year-old girls at a party he hosted in his home. Both girls were unconscious, intoxicated, and had used cocaine, according to the documents. Also, Plank’s 13-month-old son was asleep in a room during the party.

On Oct. 26, 2012, a jury convicted Plank of sexual assault, sexual assault of a child, child endangerment and adultery. He was dishonorably discharged, sentenced to confinement for 12 years and a demotion of four pay grades below staff sergeant to airman basic, which is the Air Force equivalent of a private.

Plant appealed to the U.S. Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, claiming the sentence was inappropriately severe and challenging the factual basis for the child endangerment charge.

But that court on July 2 affirmed the sentence and the charges, noting that Plant endangered the child because he was drunk.

“Considering all these factors, and recognizing that we did not personally see and hear the witnesses, we hold the appellant’s alcohol use and the circumstances surrounding that alcohol use might foreseeably result in harm to the child,” according to the court’s decision, “even if such harm would not necessarily be the natural and probable consequences of such acts.”

Plank then appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

The oral arguments are set for noon April 14 at Marquette Law School’s Eckstein Hall, 1215 W. Michigan St., and open to the public, according to a news release. The event is part of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces’ judicial outreach program, according to the release.

After the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces makes its ruling, Plank may be able to petition for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case.

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