Air Force Maj. Gen. Phillip Stewart, right, and his defense attorney Capt. Jordan Grande exit a courthouse following Stewart’s arraignment Jan. 18, 2024, at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Stewart is charged with sexual assault, dereliction of duty, behavior unbecoming of an officer and adultery. (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes )
FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas — Air Force Maj. Gen. Phillip Stewart has requested retirement from military service in lieu of a court-martial for charges that he sexually assaulted a subordinate officer during a business trip in April.
Military judge Col. Matthew Stoffel on Thursday during an arraignment hearing at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas allowed Stewart to defer entering a plea in the case until his request, which was filed Tuesday, and other motions can be heard at a March hearing, according to Air Education Training Command, where Stewart was assigned at the time the allegations occurred.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall will have final approval on the retirement request, and attorneys at the service’s headquarters have determined the court-martial process will proceed while he makes the decision.
If Stewart’s request is granted, he will instead face a grade determination board that will decide at what rank he last served honorably and that is the rank at which he will retire. If retirement is not granted, Stewart will plead not guilty to the four charges that he faces in the court-martial, said Jeffrey Addicott, an attorney for Stewart.
The two-star general is charged with two counts of sexual assault for actions that occurred April 14 at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma, according to Air Education Training Command and court documents. He also faces charges of dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming an officer and adultery.
Col. Brian Thompson, the military judge who presided over a preliminary hearing in October, recommended the sexual assault charge not be referred to a court-martial because of a lack of evidence from Air Force prosecutors, Addicott said. Instead, Thompson recommended the sexual assault charge be dropped and the other minor offenses be handled with administrative punishment.
“This court-martial should not be proceeding at all, given the strong recommendations from the Article 32 officer to the convening authority,” Addicott said.
Evidence presented at October’s preliminary hearing described a sexual encounter between Stewart and a subordinate officer that occurred during travel to Altus Air Force Base. Stewart, the alleged victim and two other military personnel were drinking alcohol on April 13-14. Once Stewart and the woman were alone, they had sex. Prosecutors argued the woman used “social cues” and tried to “politely discourage” Stewart because he was her senior officer and had power over her. Defense attorneys have argued the woman regretted the night because she was unfaithful to her husband.
Later April 14, Stewart participated in a training flight and sent a photo of himself in the aircraft to the woman. The flight occurred within 12 hours of drinking alcoholic beverages, which is not permitted, and what led to the charge of dereliction of duty.
Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, convening authority and commander of Air Education Training Command, chose to move forward with formal changes against Stewart last month after reviewing Thompson’s report.
Had Stewart’s case arrived in the military justice system this year instead of last, it would fall under new congressionally mandated rules that take the charging decision away from commanders and give it to the Air Force Office of Special Trial Counsel. The new rules only apply to offenses that occur after Dec. 27, according to the Air Force.
At the time of the alleged assault, Stewart was commander of the 19th Air Force, which trains all aircrews for the service and is headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, which is part of Joint Base San Antonio. The arraignment Thursday was held in a courthouse at Fort Sam Houston, an Army component of the joint base.
During the arraignment hearing, Stewart also deferred selecting a trial by jury or by judge only. However, Stoffel, the military judge, signed an order at the hearing to request potential jurors to avoid pretrial publicity of Stewart’s court-martial. The full three-page order was not publicly available Thursday.
Stewart, a career fighter pilot who served in Afghanistan, is only the second general officer in the service’s history to face a court-martial, according to the Air Force. Maj. Gen. William Cooley was convicted of abusive sexual contact in a court-martial last year at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He was sentenced to a reprimand and a forfeiture of nearly $55,000.
Stewart took command of the 19th Air Force in August 2022, according to his online biography. He was fired from the position in May as the Air Force investigated the allegations.
