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Sept. 29, 2006, 5:31PM

Rape charge against Air Force Academy grad dropped

By ELIZABETH WHITE
Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO — The military today dismissed a rape charge against an Air Force Academy graduate whose case was on hold because of a therapist's refusal to turn over the accuser's medical records.

A military judge halted the court-martial of Capt. Joseph Harding in June 2005 because Jennifer Bier, the accuser's civilian therapist, would not hand over the documents. Harding had been accused of raping the woman at the Colorado academy in 2000.

Harding maintained his innocence.

The court-martial reconvened this summer, but was again shelved after military judge Col. David Brash did not get Bier's records of her sessions with Jessica Brakey, as he had ordered.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Marc E. Rogers issued the dismissal of the charge against Harding, who was charged in 2004 in a case that grew out of the Colorado academy's 2003 assault scandal. The scandal prompted several investigations and toppled some of the school's commanders.

Rogers is the commander of 19th Air Force at Randolph Air Force Base near San Antonio, where the court proceedings were being held.

"It would seem clear enough that the actions of Ms. Brakey and Ms. Bier in thwarting the trial from moving forward did a disservice not only to Capt. Harding but also the administration of fair justice," said Harding's attorney, David Sheldon. "This is a wonderful day for Capt. Harding and his family."

Wendy Murphy, attorney for Bier and Brakey, said she was not at all surprised by the outcome.

"They have been trying really hard to find a palatable justification to make the whole thing go away which won't cause them any political problems," she said of the Air Force.

Murphy said she hopes a civilian prosecutor in Colorado will take up the case.

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com
Section: Houston & Texas - This article is: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4225300.html