The officer fired as the Air Force's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response branch chief after he was arrested for sexual battery outside a Virginia strip club went on trial today in Arlington County, VA.
Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski was arrested in early May after he allegedly grabbed the breasts and buttocks of a woman in a parking lot near the Crystal City Gentleman's Club and Restaurant, which is located about two miles from the Pentagon, where he worked.
Krusinski, who was drunk at the time, according to the police, was immediately removed from his job at the Pentagon.
Commonwealth's Attorney Theo Stamos said Tuesday afternoon that jury selection was underway and that trial would begin shortly after that was completed.
Stamos told Military.com that authorities have since changed the charge against Krusinski from sexual battery to assault and battery. The substituted charge is not a downgrade because are misdemeanors, she said.
Stamos said making the case for the sexual battery has a tougher standard of proof in Virginia, requiring proving that the touching was done by force of threat, intimidation or ruse. The facts of the case do not show those things, she said.
She expects the trial to last two days.
