The first woman from the US military to go into space has decided to retire after her promotion to a top Space Command job was blocked in the Senate due to her decision to overturn a sexual assault conviction. Former space shuttle astronaut Lieutenant General Susan Helms has told the Air Force she plans to retire after more than 30 years of service, an Air Force spokesman said on Friday. The Senate Armed Services Committee confirmed that her nomination as vice commander of Air Force Space Command had been withdrawn.
Helms' nomination for the post ran into trouble due to concerns about her decision last year to overturn a conviction of an Air Force captain for aggravated sexual assault. The officer had been accused of assaulting one woman in his bedroom after a night of drinking in 2010 and another in the back seat of a car in 2009. Helms reviewed the evidence and decided to throw out the jury verdict.
A memo she wrote for her personal files said she found the captain's testimony more credible than that of the victims, said the Washington Post, which obtained a copy of the document. Instead of sexual assault, Helms found him guilty of the lesser offense of committing an indecent act. Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, put Helms' nomination on hold in April citing "deep concerns" about the general's decision to reverse the jury decision, which she said would erode confidence in the justice system.
In a statement on Friday, McCaskill praised Helms' career and her achievement in becoming the first female member of the US forces in space, but said her decision to overturn the verdict, against the advise of her staff judge advocate, sent a "damaging message" to sexual assault victims. "At a time when the military is facing a crisis of sexual assault, making a decision that sends a message which dissuades reporting of sexual assaults, supplants the finding of a jury, contradicts the advice of counsel, and further victimises a survivor of sexual assault is unacceptable," McCaskill said.
The US military has been struggling to deal with the problem of sexual assault and a surge in cases has embarrassed the military and increased congressional scrutiny of the problem. An Pentagon report in May found that estimated cases of unwanted sexual contact jumped 37 percent in 2012 to 26,000 versus 19,000 the previous year. The head sexual assault prevention in the Air Force was arrested the weekend before the release of that report and accused of groping a woman while drunk in a parking lot not far from the Pentagon.
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