European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 27, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 stars and stripes Friday april 27 2007 go gets 20 years for raping woman by Steve Mraz stars and stripes Kaiserslautern Germany pvt Solomon e Smith choked raped sodomized and tried to kill a 22yearold thai woman he met at a downtown Kaiserslautern club last september for his crimes Smith of the 21st theater support command Headquarters and Headquarters company was sentenced wednes Day to 20 years Given a Dishonour Able discharge reduced to me Low est pay Grade and ordered to forfeit All pay and allow ances he faced a maximum sentence of life in prison with out parole a five member Al male panel of enlisted soldiers and officers deliberated for Iva hours to find Smith guilty of at tempted premeditated murder rape forcible Oral sodomy assault with intent to com Mit anal sodomy assault consummated by Battery and obstructing Justice prior to his court martial Smith pleaded guilty to attempted unpremeditated murder obstructing Justice and being absent without leave the sexual assault and attempted murder occurred sometime after 5 am on sept 10 2006 at the victims apartment near Hom Burg after she invited Smith in to have drinks and talk the two had met hours earlier at Tiffany a Kaiserslautern club according to testimony the pair entered the woman apart ment the woman went to the bathroom and then saw Smith in her bed apparently asleep she entered the bed and Smith made advances toward her she said no but then allowed him to Massage her Back even telling Smith where she kept lotion he could use Smith began kissing her at pvt Solomon e Smith his crimes attempted premeditated murder rape forcible Oral sodomy assault with intent to commit anal sodomy assault consummated by Battery attempted unpremeditated murder obstructing Justice being awol his sentence 20 years confinement dishonourable discharge reduced to the lowest pay Grade ordered to forfeit All pay and allowances some Point the woman told Smith she would take him Home and tried to get out of bed Smith jumped on her and began choking the woman with his forearms out of fear she agreed to have sex with Smith the victim testified Smith then raped the woman after the encounter the woman picked up her cell phone locked herself in her bathroom and tried to Call police Smith grabbed a knife from her Kitchen and banged on the Bath room door telling her to open it she testified she opened the door Only after the two talked for a while did he Stab her in the Side they talked some More and Smith stabbed her in the Chest she testified that Smith Only agreed to take her to Lan Stuhl regional medical Center after the woman consented to go along with a Story that someone else stabbed her in her closing argument capt Evah Pottmeyer a defense attorney for Smith argued that the victims memory of the event was inaccurate and the sexual acts were Consen sual an expert in forensic pathology testified for the de sense that he could not say with medical certainty that the woman was choked based on photos taken after the event if theres no strangulation the sex charges just Arent there Pottmeyer said theres no Force the woman Only performed the sexual acts because she feared Smith would harm her again said capt Kevin Mccarthy Lead prosecutor Smith realized he had done wrong based on his actions after the sexual assault Mccar thy argued in his closing state ment Why did Smith try to kill her Mccarthy said its be cause of his consciousness of Emai Steve Mraz at cafes Gas prices drop but not much most fuel prices at cafes stations throughout Europe will drop less than a Penny when the new prices take effect saturday morning depending on the Grade prices for unleaded gasoline will drop be tween on tenth and seven tenths of a cent for the week of april 28 through May 4 according to an army and air Force Exchange service news release diesel prices will fall 26 cents a gallon cafes fuel prices Are based on the current us department of Energy weekly averages plus incr elemental costs associated with delivering the Gas overseas according to cafes this week the us nation Al average for unleaded gasoline was 2869 a gallon for a full list of fuel prices go to  from staff reports Geoff and stripes a week after an underground Jet fuel line was ruptured officials at Raf Mildenhall in England still dont know where the fuel went while the exact amount is not known estimates put it at More than 50000 Gallons 50000 Gallons of leaked Jet fuel still eluding Mildenhall officials by Geoff Ziezulewicz stars and stripes Raf Mildenhall England week after More than 50000 Gallons of Jet fuel seeped into the soil at this air base after an under ground pipe was punctured base officials still dont know where the fuel has gone trenches have been dug on either Side of the excavated break site and across the taxiway where a contractor initially put the Drill into the ground that punctured the pipeline and there is no sign of the jp8 fuel the pipe broke when the con tractor was drilling a Hole under ground at about pm on april 20 base officials have re fused to release the name of the contractor base representatives did not re Spond to requests for More information on the spill by stripes deadline thursday an aquifer that supplies tap water to the area sits beneath the base but no evidence of water contamination has been found Collette Nichols a spokeswoman for Anglian water services a Utility that supplies the area said thursday while base officials have said that upwards of 50000 Gallons might have seeped into the ground the exact amount lost wont be known until the pipe is repaired and fuel starts flowing through it again those Monitor ing the tanks will then be Able to see How much it takes to fill the line the fuel could be deeper than where workers have dug so far floating at the top of groundwater that lies three to four meters below the surface said Ian Hill an environment team Leader with Britain environment Agency information about the incident was not made Public until five Days after the spill it col Scott Hartford com Mander of Milde halts 100th civil engineering Squadron said the base didst report the spill to the Public because officials wanted to make sure the information was factual workers began assessing the spill last weekend email Geoff Ziezulewicz at court martial begins in Iceland slain the associated press Washington an airman killed a us service member at a base in Iceland because she was going to testify against him in an other Case prosecutors said at the Start of his court martial wednes Day defense attorneys countered that military investigators rushed to pin the slaying on airman Calvin Eugene Hill without consid ering another Man with a Strong motive Hill 21 of Warren Ohio has been charged with murder in the death of airman 1st class Ashley Turner he could face the death penalty if convicted Turner 20 of Frederick my was found beaten and stabbed in a dormitory lounge at the naval air station in  on aug 142005 she was to testify against Hill in a court martial on larceny charges that month Hill was accused of stealing about from her by making atm withdrawals using her card and personal identification number but Hills lawyer air Force capt Gwendolyn Beitz told jurors that Turners Boyfriend also was facing a court martial that month on drug charges and that Turner had knowledge of his drug use the night before Turners death she and her Boyfriend staff sgt Ronald Ellis had a heated argument that ended with Turner Leav ing a bar in tears Beitz said maj Matthew Stoffel an air Force prosecutor told jurors that besides having a motive Hills Alibi did not hold up Hill claimed he was in his room with his Girlfriend for almost All of the evening and left Only once but the Girlfriend has previously Testi fied that Hill left for about an hour was sweaty when he returned and immediately went to Wash up and do laundry Stoffel said