Odenton Army officer tried on sodomy, sex crimes charges

A military jury began deciding yesterday evening whether to convict an Army officer from Odenton of sodomy and other sex crimes.

Capt. Michael A. Parks, 28, faces charges that include abusive sexual contact with a person who was unable to give consent. If convicted of all charges he could face at least eight years in prison.

During a two-day court martial at Fort George G. Meade in the courtroom of Lt. Col. Theresa Gallagher, the presiding military judge, the accuser told the eight-member panel that after a wedding at West Point, Capt. Parks sodomized her as she slept at the Thayer Hotel on post in late December 2007.

A panel is the equivalent of a civilian jury.

The woman is an architect who now lives in Philadelphia. <i>The Capital</i> generally does not name victims of alleged sexual assaults or family members whose names would identify them.

Capt. Parks said he didn't commit a crime.

One of his defense lawyers, Capt. Scott Rolle, said it was possible that the accuser was delusional because of a combination of Vicodin pain medication she had been prescribed to help her cope with her broken collarbone, and alcohol she drank at the wedding.

Capt. Parks, a 2003 West Point graduate and lacrosse player there, currently works for the 1st Army Division East at Fort Meade.

An engineer, he served a tour of duty in Iraq and has combat experience. He resides just outside the post in Odenton with his wife and infant son.

According to testimonies, the accuser met Capt. Parks the day before the wedding when she, her older brother, and her brother's friend went out for a night of drinking in Manhattan.

Everyone but the accuser had gone to West Point together. Capt. Parks said that while they were out he and the accuser had small talk and one time, after he shepherded her through a crowded bar to the restroom, she kissed him on the cheek and again later in the night at a hotel room they all shared. Capt. Parks said he didn't interpret the kisses as a romantic gesture. The accuser made no mention of them during her testimony.

Witnesses said the next day the group went to West Point for the wedding and checked into a hotel on post. Throughout the day, everyone, including each material witness in the case, was drinking. Capt. Parks and defense witnesses - several of whom were his former teammates on the lacrosse team - said that at one point he and the accuser had danced together to a slow song.

But the accuser and witnesses for the prosecution said that event did not happen.

Because of pain from her broken bone, the accuser retired earlier than other guests and went to a hotel room she shared with her brother.

Sometime during the night, her brother gave Capt. Parks the key to the accuser's room on the West Point campus - in the early morning hours people were celebrating in Capt. Parks' room and he wanted to sleep elsewhere.

Capt. Parks said there was no sexual contact with him and his accuser.

But she said she awoke sometime around 3 a.m., with Capt. Parks's genitalia in her mouth and on her face. She used her hand to get him to stop but he touched her and tried to have sex with her, the accuser said.

"I woke up to a real live nightmare. I woke up to somebody sodomizing me, a stranger,"she said.

Capt. Parks said he fell asleep and awoke to her kicking him and yelling at him to get out of her room. He described her as nearly crazy.

"I don't know if she was drugged up on Vicodin or sleepwalking," he said.

He said he left and went to sleep elsewhere.

Capt. Rolle said that inconsistencies in witnesses' testimonies made what happened that night dubious, and the panel should find Capt. Parks not guilty.

Capt. Joe Morrow, one of the prosecutors, said witnesses gave similar descriptions of the accuser's and Capt. Parks' behavior after the event allegedly occurred, so panel members can infer that the basis for the accusations really happened.

The accuser has no vendetta against Capt. Parks; she just met him the day before, Capt. Morrow said, and people who testified against Capt. Parks, including the accuser's brother, were either friends, teammates, classmates or housemates, or a combination, and had no reason to dislike him.

Capt. Parks, a promising young Army officer and father, has a lot on the line, Capt. Morrow said. "She has nothing to gain and the accused has everything to lose. ... Who do you think is more desperate?" Capt. Morrow said.

Military law requires at least two-thirds of the panel to vote to convict Capt. Parks of any of the charges. In this case, since there are eight members, six must believe he is guilty. As of press time last night, the panelists were still in deliberations. They are expected to continue today.

If Capt. Parks is convicted, the panel will meet again and recommend a sentence. That sentence must then be approved by Col. Daniel Thomas, installation commander at Fort Meade, before it is carried out.