Defense attorneys are will argue on Monday that a military judge should dismiss a sexual assault case that was transferred to Washington after a three-star general in Europe decided the matter should not go to court-martial.

Senior Airman Brandon Wright has been accused of aggravated sexual assault in connection with a July 2012 incident. Air Force Times is not naming the alleged victim because of the sexual nature of the alleged offense.

Wright's court-martial is slated to begin Monday at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. The Air Force took the extraordinary step of re-investigating his case after former Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin dismissed the case against him.

Three days later, then Acting Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning transferred the case to Washington. The special victims counselor for the case complained that the alleged victim had been badgered and otherwise treated with bias by the investigating officer, and the convening authority refused to talk to her.

On Monday, Wright's defense counsel will argue that the case was settled when Franklin decided not to prefer charges against him, said Maj. Jacob Ramer, one of Wright's two military attorneys. Prosecutors declined to comment on the case prior to Monday's hearing.

In 2013, Third Air Force's staff judge advocate recommended to Franklin that there was not enough evidence to pursue charges against Wright, Ramer said.

"Article 34 of the Uniform Code of Military Code of Military Justice – a federal statute, of course – says that a charge cannot go forward unless warranted by the evidence," he said. "When a staff judge advocate tells a commander that the evidence is not sufficient to move forward with trial, then a commander's hands are in effect tied."

Wright's attorneys will also argue that unlawful command influence was a factor in the decision to transfer the case from Europe to Washington, said Ramer, who declined to elaborate before Monday's hearing.

Franklin launched an controversy when he decided not to prefer charges against Wright. In February 2013, Franklin had overturned the sexual assault conviction of Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, a fellow F-16 pilot and an inspector general at Aviano Air Base, Italy. That June, the Air Force confirmed that Wilkerson had fathered a love child while having an extramarital affair nine years earlier.

Eventually, Maj. Gen. Sharon Dunbar, then commander of the Air Force District of Washington, preferred charges of rape and sexual assault against Wright, but the prosecution later withdrew the rape charge, said Capt. Patrick Hughes, Wright's other military attorney.

The staff judge advocates for the 11th Wing and Air Force District of Washington both recommended to Dunbar that there was not enough evidence to pursue a rape charge against Wright, Hughes said. Defense attorneys persuaded the prosecution that it was improper for Dunbar to have preferred the rape charge against Wright against the staff judge advocates' advice, he said.

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