Witnesses: Soldier Refused to Report Rape

FORT RUCKER, Ala. – A former National Guard soldier who accused a fellow officer of rape initially refused to report the alleged attack to police for fear of repercussions from the Army, witnesses testified Tuesday.

Army 1st Lt. Mike Hall (search) is accused of twice raping Jennifer Dyer (search), a former first lieutenant in the New Jersey National Guard (search).

Dyer, 26, has testified she was sexually assaulted in her barracks room at Camp Shelby in Mississippi. Hall, 35, says the sex was consensual.

Sgt. 1st Class Chandra Collins, who recently returned from Iraq with about a dozen other members of Dyer's unit for the trial, said Dyer didn't want to file a police report.

"She outright refused. She thought nobody would believe her and everybody would blame her for it," Collins said.

Collins testified that she and Capt. Harold Frelix consoled Dyer, who went to Frelix's room immediately after the alleged attack early on Aug. 9, 2004. She said she and Frelix reminded Dyer of her former job as a deputy sheriff in New Jersey and her duty to report the incident.

Frelix testified that he called military police, who arrived about three hours later.

Dyer has said she went public with her story, including an account on CBS' "60 Minutes," after Army investigators doubted her allegation and left her without access to a phone for two days. An Army investigator testified Monday that his initial doubts about her claim were erased by later evidence, including torn clothing.

Hall's attorney, Victor Kelley, has argued that Dyer made up the rape story to get out of the Army and avoid an upcoming assignment to Iraq.

Dyer acknowledged Monday that she refused to return to Camp Shelby, missing her unit's deployment to Iraq, after being given two weeks convalescent leave following her rape claim. She was later granted an honorable discharge.

At Hall's choice, the trial is being heard by Col. Richard Gordon without a jury.

There is no minimum sentence on the rape charge.