Braxton Taylor
Editor’s note: This article contains references to sexual assault.
Nearly a year after then-Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Champagne self-published a memoir about his inappropriate relationship with a teenage recruit, the Marine Corps sentenced him to a year in prison, a reduction in rank to private and a dishonorable discharge on Friday, officials told Military.com.
The sentencing was part of a pre-trial agreement where Champagne, 37, pleaded guilty to nine total Uniform Code of Military Justice violations during a court-martial at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, which began on Thursday. They include two specifications of abusing his position as a military recruiter and seven violations of a lawful order.
Champagne will spend his confinement at Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar, California, officials said. The discharge portion of the sentencing will trigger an automatic appeal, two military law experts told Military.com on Monday.
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The family of the victim, as well as Champagne’s ex-wife, previously told Military.com that his behavior went far beyond what he outlined in the memoir, including allegations of sexual assault, stalking and sextortion, among other abuses.
Last October, Champagne self-published the memoir that outlined his pursuit of the 17-year-old recruit. The victim’s family also said that Champagne took advantage of the recruit by plying her with alcohol, inviting her into his personal home and vehicle, and then, when the recruit wanted to break off communication, they said he stalked and harassed her.
The teenager previously told Military.com that Champagne sexually assaulted her, which would have been a violation of Article 120 of the UCMJ. But that was not one of the charges he was sentenced on, according to a list of violations the service provided to Military.com.
While she had mixed feelings about the outcome of the sentencing given the previous allegations against Champagne, Kathlyn, the teenager’s mother, told Military.com that she appreciated how “careful” the proceedings were, especially from the prosecution.
Military.com is withholding the name of Kathlyn’s daughter — as well as the family’s last name — given her age when the alleged abuse started and the publication’s policy not to print the names of alleged sexual assault victims.
“I have mixed feelings. I learned a lot through this process,” Kathlyn said. “Of course, as her parent — both of us as her parents — he should have gone away for years and years and years and years after what he did to her. … But there are limits to the law and there are limits to the plea deal, and I can say that her prosecuting team was exceptional.”
Kathlyn and her daughter both attended the hearing Thursday to give victim impact statements. It was the first time that the teenager came face to face with Champagne in more than a year. The proceeding took hours, Kathlyn said, and as part of his plea agreement, the former gunnery sergeant had to admit to the violations he was formally charged with.
“She was brave, she got up there, she did a statement,” Kathlyn said of her daughter. “I think that it gave her the closure to be able to say, ‘I’m done now, and now I’m moving on, and I don’t have to deal with Chris Champagne ever again.'”
Military.com attempted to contact Champagne through the Navy brig’s public affairs arm, but was referred to the Marine Corps. A reporter attempted to call Champagne, but it appeared the number had been disconnected.
Over the last year and beyond, both the teenage victim and Champagne’s ex-wife said they reported his behavior to both military and civilian entities, but that their concerns fell on deaf ears. For its part, the Marine Corps said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or NCIS, conducted a “comprehensive” investigation into the allegations of misconduct.
“From the beginning, the Marine Corps has taken these allegations of misconduct very seriously, and as we move forward, we will continue to take actions to revisit and properly enforce existent policies and standards,” Steve Posy, a spokesperson for the service, said via emailed statement.
“Ultimately, we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensure that the men and women who desire to earn the title ‘Marine’ will be treated respectfully during the recruiting and recruit training processes and be ready to provide America with an elite crisis-response force that will continue to fight, win our nation’s battles, and return quality citizens back to society,” he added.
The former recruit’s family filed a $5 million complaint against the service earlier this year, alleging that the Marine Corps knew about Champagne’s behavior, but allowed him to be placed in a special position of trust working with young people looking to join the military. Kathlyn said that she is unsure of what will come next or if the family will pursue other civil litigation.
“She should have never been put in the position of working with him in the first place, and he should have never been working with recruits,” Kathlyn said. She said that NCIS did not communicate effectively with her or her family and that they “lived in a black hole for over a year.”
One military legal expert told Military.com that the apparent and alleged pattern of misconduct stretching back years was of particular concern.
“My concern is when I read his [ex-]wife’s statement or her allegations, it sounded like there was a history there, and she was alleging that the command was doing nothing about it,” retired Marine Lt. Col. Gary Barthel, an attorney with the Military Law Center, told Military.com. He said commands typically take such allegations seriously, but “sometimes, somebody drops the ball in the course of getting the allegations investigated.”
“Oftentimes, you see where somebody will call the command making a complaint, and then the command will sit on it” or push it to military law enforcement such as NCIS, “and then that agency sits on it.”
In recent years, lawmakers have put pressure on the military to take military cases — especially ones concerning sexual assault — out of the hands of military commanders, given their general lack of legal expertise and competing or conflicting priorities.
“That’s what kind of adds to the problem,” Barthel said. “You’ve got commanding officers who are not attorneys or prosecutors, who are trying to make decisions on cases like this,” unlike the civilian sector with authorities such as a district attorney.
Military.com requested Champagne’s charge sheets from his command several times, but was denied. Those documents would have likely shown a narrative summation of the misconduct he was sentenced for.
Barthel said that it was unusual for commands to withhold charge sheets. The service recommended that the publication submit a Freedom of Information Act request for them, citing the need to redact personal information.
Another military legal expert told Military.com that the service does not have to post charges until 45 days after the certification of the record of trial is complete. Without that narrative, it is difficult for experts to assess the government’s position during the legal proceedings and obscures their ability to determine whether the sentencing was appropriate, or if there were other mitigating factors that led to Champagne’s punishment.
“Looking at just the crimes for which he was convicted, this sentence isn’t egregiously low when considering that he pled guilty and had a deal with the government,” Eric Carpenter, a former military lawyer who is now a law professor at Florida International University, told Military.com via email. “He wasn’t convicted of more serious offenses like sexual assault or stalking. If he had been, the sentence would have been much higher.”
Carpenter said that the potential punishment for one specification of abusing one’s position as a recruiter can be five years. For violating orders, that can range from three months to two years, depending on the specification. Altogether, Champagne may have been looking at a decade-plus in confinement without a plea deal, but it is impossible to know without more information on the charges.
Barthel said that it was “somewhat more aggravating” that the recruit was not yet a Marine, and that UCMJ laws like Article 93 — misconduct with a recruit, which Champagne was charged under — are meant to protect what is arguably the service’s most vulnerable population.
“It goes to the fact that this is with regard to an allegation involving a poolee, and the 93 is supposed to impose strict prohibitions against these inappropriate relationships, because it really does have a negative impact on the public’s trust and confidence in the military,” he said.
For Kathlyn and her family, that trust is gone.
“They treated us really well last week. It was as positive an experience — given the circumstances — as possible,” Kathlyn said. “However, I still believe the military was wrong initially, because he should have never been allowed to be in his position, to even have access to her or any woman or any recruit … This is their wrong. Ultimately, the military needs to be held accountable for this, because they knew about him.”
While Kathlyn said the hearing provided a sense of closure for her daughter and that she is working to move forward with her life, she is particularly relieved about one thing.
“I’m so thankful she’s not in,” Kathlyn said. “I’m thankful that the one good thing is that she’s not going to be a Marine, and that makes me happy.”
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