Latest news with #Kazin
Yomiuri Shimbun
25-06-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Army Ranger Sentenced to 53 Years in Prison for Numerous Sex Assaults
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 sentenced Tuesday to 53 years in prison after a military jury this week convicted him of two rape charges and more than a dozen other assault counts. 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. On Monday, 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 carried a maximum sentence of life without parole, and each sexual assault count had a 30-year maximum term. He was sentenced Tuesday by the military judge, Col. Adam S. Kazin, who presided at his trial. 'I am truly sorry for every hurt that I have put on to anyone,' Batt told the judge Tuesday. 'And that is all I can say. I will grow and learn from this. I am sorry.' In imposing the sentence, Kazin offered no explanation for how he determined what would be an appropriate prison term. He also ordered that Batt be 'dismissed from the service.' Batt's attorneys and prosecutors had no immediate comment after the sentencing. The jury foreman declined to comment after Monday's verdicts. Batt chose to have Kazin sentence him rather than the jury. The judge heard victim impact testimony from several women on Tuesday who described the lasting impact that their violent encounters with Batt had on them. 'Jon Batt inflicted traumatic physical and emotional injuries I experience to this day,' said the woman whose Facebook post launched the investigation, 'and likely will for a long time.' A soldier who testified that Batt impregnated her and forced her into having an abortion had to stop reading her statement when she became too emotional, and her Army victim advocate continued for her. 'I am forever changed,' the soldier said. 'I will never be the same. Nor will I ever look at the uniform the same.' 'This outcome would not have been possible without the bravery of the victims who came forward,' said Brian Porchia of Protect Our Defenders, which provided pro bono advocacy and legal support for the 14 civilian victims not aided by the Army. 'That failure reflects a broader systemic issue: survivors were forced to rely on outside organizations when it should have been the Army's responsibility.' 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 38 total counts, including six rape charges, two aggravated assault by strangulation charges, 10 sexual assault and 16 assault and battery charges The jury convicted on two of the rape charges, and reduced the four others to either aggravated assault or assault and battery. Batt was convicted of two aggravated assault and four sexual assault counts, seven assault and battery counts and one obstruction of justice count, for telling a woman not to cooperate with police. Prosecutors combined or dismissed four assault charges on Tuesday, leaving a total of 16 convictions. 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 choked 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. 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 choking lasted longer the second time, but still she returned for a third time, with no choking, 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, choked 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. 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 choked them into unconsciousness. Six women were bitten, struck or slapped by Batt, Ryder said.
Chicago Tribune
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Evergreen Park Community High School band director Ken Kazin retires after nearly 40 year career
Teaching can be a tough job, but then something happens that makes all the effort worth it. Ken Kazin, the longtime band director at Evergreen Park Community High School calls them 'aha moments,' when his students 'finally get something really well. You just see it.' 'That's something I can never get too much of,' he said. After a nearly 40-year career at the school, Kazin retired at the end of this school year. The school's new band director is Colin Curatolo. Kazin said he'll miss his students, and is proud of how far the band program has come since he started in 1987. Back then, the marching band didn't participate in competitions and the band director position wasn't even full-time until he started. Among his more recent accomplishments was introducing a rock band element to the music program about five years ago. Now the school also has strong jazz and concert bands. It's a full time job indeed. In fact, as of his retirement Kazin had banked 406 hours of paid sick time, the equivalent of about 50 days. In addition to overseeing the school's bands, he's taught classes in AP Music Theory, Technology in the Performing Arts, World Music and other related topics. He is also principal percussionist for the Southwest Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Chicago Federation of Musicians. He was a drummer for Oak Lawn Theatre musicals and plays percussion with his son Keaton, a junior at Stagg High School, in the DuPage Youth Symphony. Kazin grew up in Oak Lawn, attended St. Laurence High School in Burbank and obtained a degree from VanderCook College of Music in Chicago. He lives in Hickory Hills with his wife, Amy, who is activities director at EPCHS. His son Jason teaches music at Scarlet Oak School in Oak Forest and his daughter, MacKenzie, teaches English in Columbus, Ohio. A song called 'Evergreen' performed during Evergreen Park Community High School's recent spring concert, which Kazin directed, was commissioned for him and the school by William Owens, his former VanderCook classmate. Kazin credits working with his wife as a big part of the school's musical/artistic success. She was formerly choir director there and directed and choreographed musicals, sharing his enthusiasm for ensuring students grew in their musical abilities. Their combined talents helped students work together in the school's band, choir and theatre programs. 'I think that made a big difference in the school environment and especially the kids,' said Kazin. 'What I'm most proud of is we built a music department. It was about all the music students and making sure they participated in the arts.' A big part of his overall success goes back to his parents, Kazin said. His mother was a professional pianist and organist, and he performed with her for a local VFW, playing drums. His father, a roll tender and inkman for RR Donnelley Printing, taught him his strong work ethic and the importance of showing up ready to give the job his all. He also gets a kick out of student shenanigans, chuckling when he noticed a mustache drawn on his picture in the hallway. 'You put the kids first, our job is to make them better by the end of the year,' he said. Students appreciate Kazin, too. 'Mr. Kazin has explained the importance of trying new and different things time and time again,' said Ryan Brennan, a rising junior, who plays in the concert band. 'He suggests that you don't need to understand everything to try … try something different and ask questions when you need to. 'That's how you can be most successful,' said Ryan. He also had a way of boosting self confidence, according to Zion McCadd, a rising senior and drum major in the marching band. 'I have learned so much from Mr. Kazin,' said Zion. 'Just from being in his band for three years, I've learned to be confident in everything I do from leading the band to playing my instrument. 'He also taught me it's okay to have a little fun!' Kazin also made an impact on Louise Brady, a band student who also just finished junior year. 'I am beyond grateful to have had him as a teacher, mentor, and dad-joke provider,' said Louise. 'I truly couldn't ask for a better experience and hope he has enough adolescents to tease in his retirement!' Principal Matt Dugan said Kazin had made a significant impact with his 'dedication toward the community and school as a whole.' But coming to work was no chore for Kazin, both because of his students and the many colleagues who 'had my back.' He said he might teach college students in the future and he plans to continue performing. 'I had the best job in the teaching world,' he said. 'I was a band director, so I got to grow with my students over four years. 'I loved growing with them.'
