A mistrial was declared Wednesday in the court-martial of former squadron commander Lt. Col. Keithen Washington, who was accused of assaulting and sexually assaulting a civilian woman with whom he was in a relationship.

“The judge declared a mistrial because he heard testimony he felt could negatively impact the panel’s ability to impartially consider all the evidence,” Lt. Col. Darrick Lee, director of public affairs for the Air Force District Washington at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, said in an email Thursday.

Opening statements in the court-martial were heard Tuesday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. He faced one specification of a charge of sexual assault, and five specifications of a charge of assault. Two of the alleged assaults are said to have taken place while Washington was commander of the 86th Force Support Squadron at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

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His court-martial first began at Andrews last October, but was postponed until this week due to a scheduling issue.

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.

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