AWOL Soldier Pleads Guilty in Deal
    The Associated Press

    Monday 11 December 2006

    Seattle - A soldier who said she was sexually harassed by her colleagues, prompting her to leave her post and refuse to return to Iraq, has agreed to plead guilty to going AWOL in exchange for a reduced punishment, the Army said Monday.

    Army Spc. Suzanne Swift, 22, of Eugene, Ore., had been scheduled for a special court-martial next month on charges of missing movement and being absent without leave.

    In a deal reached Dec. 7, Swift agreed to plead guilty, Fort Lewis officials said Monday. Under the agreement, Swift avoids the possibility of a federal conviction on her record and will remain eligible for an honorable discharge once she completes her five years of service.

    Swift's case has been handed back to her unit - the 54th Military Police Co. of the 42nd Military Police Brigade - which has two weeks to schedule a summary court-martial, a proceeding usually closed to the public in which neither a prosecutor nor defense counsel is present, Fort Lewis spokeswoman Sgt. Maj. Yolanda Choates said Monday.

    An officer from Fort Lewis will hear her case and impose a lower-level punishment.

    Swift could have faced 12 months' confinement and bad-conduct discharge if convicted in a special court-martial, said Greg Gagne, Swift's attorney.

    Her maximum punishment now would be a reduction in rank to private, forfeiture of two-thirds of her salary for one month and 30 days' confinement. She also would be assigned to a new post, Gagne said.

    Swift returned in February 2005 from serving a year in Iraq. Her unit was sent back in January 2006, but she refused to go and stayed away for roughly five months.

    She was arrested at her mother's home in June. She claimed she had been harassed or abused by three noncommissioned officers - two in Iraq and one at Fort Lewis in May 2005.

    The Army investigated Swift's allegations and substantiated one against a Fort Lewis soldier. That soldier left the Army after receiving a written reprimand from his battalion commander and being reassigned.