page_title: Michael Brown Okinawa assault incident
section_title: Crime and arrest
hierarchical_section_title: Michael Brown Okinawa assault incident / Crime and arrest
caption_attribution_description: English: Camp Courtney mess hall at United States Marine Corps base in Okinawa, Japan
context_page_description: On November 2, 2002, U.S. Marine Corps Major Michael Brown attempted an indecent assault on a Filipina bartender in Okinawa, Japan. The bartender accused Brown of attempting to rape her and of throwing her cell phone into a nearby river; Brown denied the rape charges. The victim later recanted and attempted to withdraw the accusation, though prosecutors presented evidence that she had received a cash payment just before doing so.
  The case received extensive attention in the Japanese media, especially in Okinawa, and the crime sparked a public debate over the U.S. military presence in Japan, the privileges of extraterritoriality, as well as the fair-trial practices of Japanese legal system and the Japanese police. The case involved the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan and the U.S.–Japan Status of Forces Agreement.
  On July 8, 2004, after a 19-month trial, Brown was convicted by a Japanese court of attempted indecent assault and destruction of private property and received a one-year suspended prison sentence.
context_section_description: Early in the morning of November 2, 2002, a female employee of the Camp Courtney officers' club on Okinawa drove up to the Courtney main gate and reported to base security personnel that a Marine Corps major had just attempted to sexually assault her in her car on a deserted road near the back gate of the base. She identified the Marine as Major Michael Brown and stated that during the assault the major threw her mobile phone into the nearby Tengan River. The woman, later identified with the initials V.N., who was 40 years old, and originally from the Philippines, had lived in Okinawa for 17 years, and was married to a Japanese citizen of Okinawan descent. She reported that she had picked up Brown in her car about 1:30 a.m. after the officers' club closed and that he directed her to the deserted road behind the base and after parking, Brown tried to rape her and then threw her mobile phone into the river when she tried to call the police. The Camp Courtney security personnel called the Japanese National Police Agency (NPA). Japanese officers came and took V. N.'s report.
  Michael Brown was at the time 39 years old, was married, had two small children, and was a 19-year Marine veteran assigned to the command element of the III Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Courtney on his second tour on Okinawa.  Brown voluntarily underwent several hours of questioning at the JNP station in Gushikawa. He told Japanese police investigators that V. N. had propositioned him for sex and that, when he refused, a physical altercation ensued. During the altercation, Brown said, V. N. took his wallet and Brown grabbed her mobile phone, which he, "out of frustration", proceeded to toss into the nearby river. Brown stated that V. N. drove away but returned a few minutes later and gave his wallet back to him. Both Brown's and V. N.'s accounts agreed that V. N. had originally picked up Brown in her car after meeting him for the first time at the base officers' club that evening. Both stated that V. N. had agreed to give Brown, who was intoxicated, a ride home.
  On December 3, 2002, the JNP issued a warrant for Brown's arrest. The Japanese government asked that Brown be turned over to Japanese authorities immediately.  Although the U.S.–Japan Status of Forces Agreement stated that service members would only be turned over to Japanese law enforcement if formally indicted, the U.S. had agreed to give "sympathetic consideration" for serious crimes in response to the 1995 Okinawan rape incident, in which a U.S. Navy sailor and two Marines raped a 12-year-old Okinawan girl.
  The United States, in this case, decided not to turn Brown over to the Japanese authorities before he was formally indicted and restricted Brown to base on Camp Courtney.  On December 9, the JNP filed formal charges against Brown and, on December 19, he was formally indicted on charges of attempted rape and destruction of private property.  The next day, Brown, escorted by U.S. Marine Corps military police, was turned over to the custody of Japanese police at the Naha detention center.  When asked why they had waited ten days after the formal charges to indict Brown, Japanese Deputy Chief Prosecutor Junichi Okumura stated that they wanted to give Brown a chance to apologize (called jidan in Japanese) to the victim.  Since that apparently did not occur and V. N. still expressed a desire to press charges, the Japanese authorities went ahead with the indictment.
  On December 25, Naha District Court judge Yayoi Ikeda (池田 弥生, Ikeda Yayoi) denied bail for Brown because, "there was concern that he [Brown] might try to destroy evidence or intimidate witnesses if he was set free." Ikeda also said that she was concerned over the seriousness of the charges and the large discrepancy between the statements of Brown and V. N.. Brown was represented at the hearing by a local Japanese defense attorney, Masayuki Akamine (赤嶺 允之, Akamine Masayuki). Akamine reported that Brown's family in the United States had begun jidan negotiations with the victim.  At this time, Brown's brother also launched a websit
caption: Camp Courtney Mess Hall
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