Officers Acquit Air Force Cadet of Rape Charge
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — An Air Force Academy cadet was found not guilty Thursday of raping a fellow cadet during a scuba-diving-club trip to New Mexico in May 2004.
Senior cadet Benjamin Kuster had been accused of raping the woman, now an Air Force second lieutenant, after a night of heavy drinking in a motel.
The jury of officers did convict Kuster of committing an indecent act -- having consensual sex with his girlfriend in a room where other cadets slept -- during the same trip, defense attorney Richard Stevens said.
Stevens planned to return to court today to argue that the indecent-act charge should be thrown out.
Kuster could be sentenced to five years in confinement and dismissal from the Air Force.
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