For the first time, an Air Force general has been convicted of sexual assault. Two-star Gen. William Cooley was found guilty in a court-martial of forcibly kissing a woman in a verdict described as "historic" by outlets including NPR and the Washington Post, and in a news release from the Air Force itself. The woman Cooley assaulted was his own sister-in-law, who allowed media outlets to describe her as such but not to name her or provide other details that might identify her. Cooley was convicted of forcibly “kissing her on the lips and tongue, with an intent to gratify his sexual desire,” per the New York Times, and he was acquitted of charges that he groped her and forced her to touch him over his clothes.
The assault took place after a family barbecue in the summer of 2018, says the Air Force. The woman told investigators that Cooley had been drinking and asked her for a ride home, during which he told her that he fantasized about having sex with her. At one point, she said he “pressed her up against the driver’s side window, forcibly kissed and groped her through her clothes,” per the Air Force statement. Cooley, who was previously relieved of his command of the Air Force Research Laboratory, faces up to seven years in prison and dismissal from the military when he is sentenced on Monday.
"The price for peace in my extended family was my silence, and that was too high a price to pay," said the woman in a statement issued through her attorney. “Doing the right thing, speaking up, telling the truth, shouldn’t be this hard,” she said. “Hopefully it won’t be this difficult for the next survivor.” Cooley issued no statement after the verdict. This is not only the first conviction of an Air Force general, it's "the first time sexual assault charges have led to criminal prosecution for someone so high up in the chain of command," according to the Air Force Times. (More Air Force stories.)
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