Anthony J. Baumann - U.S. Army - Convicted Sex Offender

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Name: Anthony J. Baumann

Case: U.S. v. Baumann No. 00-0076

Date Of Conviction: November 13, 1997

Plea: Not Guilty

Charges: Indecent Acts On A Child

Military Branch: U.S. Army

Listed In National Sex Offenders Registry? NO

During the fall of 1997, appellant was tried by a general court-martial composed of officer and enlisted members at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Contrary to his pleas, he was found guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon, indecent acts with a child, indecent liberties with a child, and communicating a threat (3 specifications), in violation of Articles 128 and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC §§ 928 and 934.

On November 13, 1997, he was sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, confinement for 6 years, total forfeitures, and reduction to Private E-1. On February 13, 1998, the convening authority approved the sentence as adjudged, but waived the forfeitures for a period of approximately 6 months. On September 1, 1999, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the findings of guilty and sentence in a memorandum opinion.

We hold that the military judge at appellant’s court-martial for sexually abusing his daughter erred by admitting evidence that appellant sexually abused his two younger sisters 25 years earlier.

Appellant was a 38-year-old married sergeant. As noted above, in 1997 he was charged with and found guilty of committing indecent acts in 1992 with his 11-year-old daughter by touching her, and having her touch his genital areas.

He was also charged with taking indecent liberties with his daughter "by exposing his private parts to her." In a 1997 pretrial statement to military police, he

admitted exposing himself and masturbating in front of his daughter. Appellant claimed that he was providing parental education to her in sexual matters as a result of her previous discovery of him masturbating in his bathroom. He also stated that "during the time I was showing J how boys masturbate, there is a good possibility that J, may have touched my penis and may have gotten some of the ejaculate on her hands." . He further stated, "I pointed out where her clitoris was and in doing so I believe I touched her upper leg and inner thigh." He finally admitted that he touched her in other places inadvertently during this incident. ("I don’t remember touching her breast or chest area, although there my (sic) have been inadvertent brushing while we were talking.".

Appellant’s daughter, however, testified to a similar but not identical series of sexual touching's on two different occasions. She stated that appellant purposefully touched her, and she touched him as he directed. She admitted that he indicated to her that he was "showing [her] these things out of some type of educational purpose.".

Turning to the record before us, we note that the prosecution presented an overwhelming case based on the unequivocal testimony of the victim, which was substantially corroborated by appellant’S pretrial statement acknowledging the occurrence of most of the charged acts (i.e., deliberate exposure of his genitals to his daughter, purposefully masturbating in front of her, and touching of her breasts and in between her legs). Cf. United States v. Mann, supra. Appellant’s story of demonstrative parental sex education was an extremely weak defense, if a defense at all, and his claimed accidental touching was substantiated only by his self-serving pretrial statement to police investigators. The decision of the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals is affirmed.