Latest news with #FortMeade
Washington Post
23-06-2025
- Washington Post
Army Ranger convicted of rape, multiple sex assault charges
An Army Ranger who was arrested after a two-year investigation sparked by a Facebook group of women who said he sexually assaulted them was convicted Monday of two rape charges and more than a dozen other assault counts by a military jury, and will face sentencing Tuesday by a judge who could impose up to life in prison without parole. Maj. Jonathan Batt, 40, listened to 15 women testify against him during his three-week trial at Fort Meade in Maryland, then took the witness stand and provided detailed explanations for why, in his view, all the sexual encounters were consensual. 'I am not a rapist,' Batt told the jury of three colonels and five lieutenant colonels, who heard closing arguments June 16, then deliberated for three days in the week since. The jury of six men and two women convicted Batt of 20 charges involving eight women, and acquitted him of 18 counts involving seven women. Each rape charge carries a maximum sentence of life without parole, and each sexual assault count has a 30-year maximum term. The jury foreman declined to comment after the verdict. Batt chose to have military Judge Adam S. Kazin sentence him rather than the jury. The judge will hear testimony Tuesday morning before imposing sentence. 'There's a mix of emotions,' said Ryan Guilds, a lawyer representing nine of the women who testified. 'Disappointment for those who didn't get the justice they deserved, validation for many of them, that they were believed. … Though today was a good day, it doesn't change the incredible amount of harm suffered by these victims.' The total number of charges Batt faced was steadily reduced after he was initially arrested last October on 77 counts, including 14 rape and 16 aggravated assault charges. Prosecutors from the Army's Office of Special Trial Counsel said five of the initial 20 accusers withdrew from the case, and a number of other charges were dismissed or combined with other counts. In the end, the jury considered six rape charges, two aggravated assault by strangulation charges, 10 sexual assault and 16 assault and battery charges among 38 total counts. Batt, a West Point graduate who then entered Ranger School, rose to major and was in line for a promotion to lieutenant colonel before his arrest. He had been assigned to an artificial intelligence division of the Army in Arlington, Virginia, where he also lived. He kept a boat on the Potomac, the 'Batt Boat,' on which some of the incidents originated. He has a young daughter and testified he got married last month. Prosecutors said Batt met the women through online dating apps, through friends or through work. All of the women agreed to dates, but many said they did not agree to sex, particularly on the first date. From 2020 to 2023, 'Major Batt preyed upon and attacked 15 different women when they were vulnerable, isolated and defenseless,' Army Lt. Col. Gregory A. Vetere said in his closing argument. He cited the testimony of a woman who had fended off one physical advance by Batt, told him she wasn't interested in sex, then in a later encounter was forced to have sex at night on the Potomac River while they were on a Jet Ski. Prosecutors also said Batt strangled three women into unconsciousness during sex, without their consent. 'They felt the life force being driven out of them,' Vetere said. 'It is clear that the accused, in their testimony, was having sex with their unconscious bodies. That is rape, for which consent is not even a defense. An unconscious person cannot consent.' Other women said they were tied with ropes against their will or forced to have sex after they said no. Two lawyers and an Army soldier were among the 15 women who testified against Batt. Some of the women met after one of Batt's girlfriends posted on the Facebook group, 'Are We Dating the Same Guy?' Batt's lawyer, Nathan Freeburg, said the subsequent discussions among the women constituted 'witness contamination,' in which witnesses are exposed to prejudicial information before they testify. Freeburg noted in his closing argument that Batt testified for nearly an entire day. 'He looked you in the eye and told you the truth. We've done all an innocent person can do. We've shouted from the rooftops, he is innocent.' Freeburg pointed out that many of the women had subsequent encounters with Batt after claiming he sexually assaulted them. 'I always have fun with you guys,' one woman texted Batt after engaging in a video-recorded threesome, Freeburg reminded the jury. The video itself was shown to the jury, though prosecutors claimed it was edited by Batt to remove the criminal element of the encounter. Another woman sent more than 100 messages to Batt after she was allegedly attacked. 'That's not someone who got assaulted,' Freeburg told the jury. 'None of this makes sense.' Batt maintained that nearly all of his actions were consensual and not unusual. 'There's always a conversation about what the other party wants,' he told the jury. Prosecutors summoned an expert on how victims of violence respond to their attackers. She testified that many victims of interpersonal violence often maintain ties with their assailants. The jury was given instructions on multiple counts that evidence of sexual interactions with Batt 'should be considered as to whether she [the accuser] consented to the charged act.' The women in Batt's trial gave varying explanations of why they continued to see Batt after he allegedly assaulted them. One of them, a lawyer, said she was shocked when Batt had sex with her after she specifically told him no, a warning Batt admitted to on the stand, and more shocked when he placed his hands around her neck, nearly rendering her unconscious. But she said she discussed the choking with him, and returned for a second encounter. She testified that the strangling lasted longer the second time, but still she returned for a third time, with no strangling, before ending the relationship. 'Just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt,' the woman testified. 'He seemed like a nice guy.' The jury acquitted Batt of sexual assault but convicted him of aggravated assault by strangulation in the counts related to the woman. The woman who first contacted police, in the summer of 2021, told a story even Freeburg acknowledged was 'horrific,' of being partially bound, strangled and raped after recently undergoing surgery as part of her transgender conversion. She said she had not told Batt that she was transgender. But after undergoing a sexual assault exam at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, meeting with a detective and starting therapy, she told police she didn't want to prosecute Batt. She then saw him a second time and agreed to be bound again. She said she met with him to hear him apologize in person for their first encounter. A year later, when the woman saw the Facebook group, she returned to the Alexandria police and said she wanted to prosecute. She had spoken to others who had posted in the group, some of whom then also cooperated with police and testified at the trial. The investigation restarted in August 2022 and was later joined by the Army Criminal Investigation Division, culminating in Batt's arrest. Batt was convicted of rape and assault and battery for his first interaction with the woman, and also rape of a second woman. The jury acquitted Batt of four rape counts involving other women but convicted him of a lesser charge of assault in each case. Though Freeburg claimed that the women's interactions before trial constituted contamination, prosecutor Capt. Stephanie Ryder said eight of the 15 women who testified had never seen the Facebook group. Ryder said three of the women testified that Batt had strangled them into unconsciousness. Six women were bitten, struck or slapped by Batt, Ryder said. 'These women have done everything they can to stand up for themselves,' Ryder told the jury. 'Major Batt is a sadist and he is sexually obsessed. He took whatever he wanted whenever he wanted.' 'Navigating the criminal justice system can be extremely daunting,' said Adrian R. Perry, director of victim services for Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) of Virginia, where many of the victims reside, 'and not having victim advocacy support often amplifies the fears and anxieties victims experience after reporting what happened to them.'
Washington Post
12-06-2025
- Washington Post
Soldier accused of strangling, raping women testifies in court
After listening to 15 women testify that he had slapped, strangled and sometimes raped them over a three-year period, Army Maj. Jonathan Batt took his turn on the witness stand in his court-martial at Fort Meade on Wednesday and said each of them consented to every act of sex or bondage he performed. Batt acknowledged he impregnated one of his accusers, an active duty soldier, and assisted her in obtaining an abortion, but did not address the woman's claim that he pressured her into ending the pregnancy. 'I'm not a rapist,' the Army ranger told the jury of four colonels and four lieutenant colonels, two of whom are women. 'And I really hope we can see the facts with all these stories.' Batt, 40, faces six rape and 10 aggravated assault counts among the 43 total charges. One of the lead prosecutors from the Army's Office of Special Trial Counsel, Lt. Col. Gregory A. Vetere, listened to Batt's version of his relationships with the women and began his cross-examination by asking: 'You did absolutely nothing illegal to the 15 women who testified against you?' 'Yes sir,' Batt said. 'Fifteen different women?' 'Yes sir,' Batt replied. Vetere proceeded to list the names of all 15 women who testified. 'Your testimony is that every single criminal allegation is untrue?' the prosecutor asked. 'Yes sir,' Batt answered. Batt spent nearly the entire day on the stand, describing how he met each of his accusers — many on dating apps, others through friends or work — and how their relationships or one-night stands developed. After he was assigned to Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, in 2020, his social life often revolved around the boat he kept on the Potomac River, dubbed the 'Batt Boat' with a Batman logo on the back. One woman testified that she took a ride on a Jet Ski with Batt, saying they stopped in the Potomac and had sex against her will on the motorized vehicle. Batt confirmed that story, but said the woman was fully consenting. He acknowledged she later sent him texts saying she was upset about the incident. To show that the women sometimes seemed untroubled by his actions, Batt said many texted him saying they were looking forward to meeting up again. One longer-term girlfriend 'would frequently text me and ask me for these things,' Batt said. A video Batt shot of himself having sex with one of the women accusing him was admitted in evidence and shown to the jury. In August 2022, one of Batt's girlfriends posted his picture on Facebook, under the page 'Are We Dating the Same Guy?' Batt said it was a turning point in his life. The Alexandria police began investigating after one of the women who responded to the post called a detective, and then the Army Criminal Investigation Division joined the probe and found 20 accusers both in the D.C. area and at Fort Benning, Georgia, where Batt was previously stationed. Batt was arrested last October and initially charged with 14 rapes among 77 total counts for allegations that spanned from late 2019 to early 2023. Five women have since withdrawn from the case and other charges have been dropped or combined. 'I fully acknowledge that in dating, I had a suboptimal approach during the covid quarantine period,' Batt testified. He said he examined himself, learned from his experiences and 'married an amazing person.' The jurors in military trials can ask questions, and one asked when he got married. Adultery is a crime in the military that can result in a dishonorable discharge and up to a year in prison. When Batt didn't immediately answer, Military Judge Adam S. Kazin pressed him for the date. 'The fifth of May' of this year, Batt said. Batt said his first dates with women typically involved dinner or a ride on his boat. Many of the women who accused him had repeated encounters with him, with the soldier sometimes choking them with his hands to the point where the women said they nearly passed out. Batt acknowledged biting some of the women and leaving marks on them, or tying them to the bed with nylon ropes. Batt said he discovered strangling women because 'several women asked me for it and I realized it was a thing that many women liked. … If you squeeze for a few seconds it can have the impact of increasing sensitivity for them. They generally provide many positive reactions, physiologically.' Only one of the women was in the military. He said he met her while assigned to 'The Old Guard' at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. They began working out together and then met regularly for sex, Batt said. In 2023, he noticed she was pregnant and she told him he was the father. The woman testified last week that Batt pressured her into having an abortion, that he would make her life miserable and take the child if she gave birth. Batt was not asked about that Wednesday. Instead, Batt testified that they discussed options. He noted that he 'had a daughter that was also not in a marriage. We talked about that, the challenges of having a kid.' He said he 'asked what she wanted to do, and said I would support her.' He said he drove her to a private abortion clinic, and helped her for days after. He said they remained in touch until last October, when she obtained a protective order against him. Batt differed with the witness accounts offered by the women who testified in the first six days of the trial. He said the sex acts and strangling he performed on a transgender woman from Pennsylvania were consensual and in two incidents, were different from what the woman said happened. He said a lawyer from the District consented to sex and 'light choking,' though the woman said she did not, and that she suffered burst blood vessels around her eyes as a result. One of the jurors asked, given the number of women making allegations over an extended period, 'Can you describe how you have respect for women?' Batt responded, 'In the consensual relationships I've been in there's always a conversation about what the other party wants.' Another jury question, referring to the large number of accusers, asked, 'What could have led them to make these claims?' Batt replied that one woman he had dated for two years, who created the Facebook post, 'stated she would ruin my life if I did not do as she stated. She then acted behind the scenes to inflame others.' He added, 'Other people were told they were victims by the Alexandria Police Department and Army CID, that made them feel like victims and caused them to embellish their stories.' The defense is expected to finish its case Thursday, then prosecutors may introduce rebuttal witnesses. The jury is only required to have six of its eight members vote guilty to convict on each charge. If Batt is convicted of any of the charges, he then must decide whether the jury or the judge will sentence him. A hearing with more evidence would be held on the sentence immediately after any guilty verdicts. The maximum sentence Batt could face is life without parole.
