College guide books describe the US Coast Guard Academy as a lockstep environment where fraternization is prohibited and everything is scrutinized for good order and discipline.
You would never know it from the first week of testimony in the academy's first court-martial of a student.
The four female cadets who have accused Cadet Webster Smith of sexual offenses presented stories of heavy drinking at off-campus parties, naked photographs and late-night meetings behind locked barracks doors.
The school has historically received less attention than the other US military academies and does not relish the attention. School spokesman David French said the academy should be judged not by the testimony, but for handling the trial fairly.
``You can't get a sense of what life is like here from a trial,'' French said.
Smith, 23, of Houston, has pleaded not guilty to rape, sodomy, extortion and assault charges that stem from the allegations by his on-again, off-again girlfriend and the three other female cadets.
Prosecutors said he preyed on young women, manipulating them into sexual situations when they were drunk and vulnerable. With no physical evidence in the case, defense attorneys hope to persuade jurors that testimony is unreliable.
Smith's attorneys had not said whether he would take the stand yesterday in the final day of testimony. Doing so would open him up to intense cross-examination.
The rape case hinges on the testimony of Smith's sometimes girlfriend who said she remembers little about the night last June when she alleges he raped her. She says she drank as much as three liters of wine and passed out, then woke up the next morning and was told they had had sex.
The prosecution maintains that the woman could not have consented to sex that night. Defense attorneys say the sex was consensual, noting that Smith and the woman continued their sporadic relationship for months and had sex after that night.
The other accusers who testified are:
* A woman who said Smith performed oral sex on her in the back of his car while she was drunk and pleading with him to stop. Defense attorneys note that she did not mention this in an affidavit for Coast Guard investigators, and say her story has changed.
* A woman who described a night in which she and Smith had a series of sexual encounters in her dorm room, saying she never resisted when they took naked photographs together, gave each other massages and had oral sex. The woman said she was relying on Smith to keep a secret, one involving a crime that could have jeopardized her career in the Coast Guard. Prosecutors say Smith held that secret over her, extorting her for sexual favors.
* A woman who said that Smith, a good friend, pinned her to a wall and kissed her at an off-campus party. She said she did not want to kiss him, but they had kissed before and she said she never indicated she did not want to be kissed.
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