United States v. Bourchier

Opinion of the Court

Paul W. Brosman, Judge:

During the early morning of June 24, 1952 — shortly after 2:00 a.m.— authorities at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station received a report that Ensign Alice W., a Navy nurse, had been raped by an officer of that service. Later that day Ensign W. identified the accused, Lieutenant John Roy Bour-chier, as having been her assailant. A pretrial investigation, pursuant to Article 32, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 50 USC § 603, was conducted almost at once, and the charge of rape was referred for trial. Through the civilian defense counsel who had…