A hearing on motions and not the merits of the case. Update to a previous post.
The sexual assault court-martial of Brig. Gen. Jeff Sinclair will resume Monday, nearly a week after the trial was postponed indefinitely because his lawyers had begun new plea-bargain negotiations.
The resumption of the trial was announced late Friday night in a Fort Bragg news release.
According to a source close to Sinclair’s legal team, the trial will resume with a hearing to deal with procedural issues, including whether a new convening authority should be designated to receive a plea offer.
The source said in an email Friday night that negotiations between the two sides continue.
Sinclair, a former deputy commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, is accused of committing forcible oral sodomy on a 34-year-old Army captain near the end of his three-year adulterous affair with her. A conviction could send the 51-year-old combat veteran to life in prison.
On March 6, Sinclair pleaded guilty to three of the eight criminal charges he faces: failure to obey a lawful order or regulation; conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman; and adultery, which is a crime in the military.
A jury could sentence him on those charges to as much as 15 years in prison, dismissal from the Army and forfeiture of pay and allowances, said Col. James Pohl, the judge in the case.
Sinclair has the option to withdraw those guilty pleas, said Richard Scheff, his lead lawyer.
Sinclair, 51, has been in the Army since December 1985.
The court-martial was halted Monday. Sinclair’s lawyers told the judge they received new evidence last weekend of unlawful command influence over a Fort Bragg general’s decision several months ago to reject plea negotiations with Sinclair’s lawyers and proceed with the court-martial.