An entrance sign to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. (U.S. Air Force)
The court-martial of an Army doctor accused of 53 counts of sexually abusing soldiers and veterans under his care has been delayed until January 2025, according to Army court records.
The start of Maj. Michael Stockin’s trial had been changed from Oct. 7 to Jan. 13, the Army’s court website, eDocket, showed Thursday.
Michelle McCaskill, communications director for the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel, which is handling the prosecution, said the Army had agreed to the new date during a pretrial hearing on Thursday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
Stockin, 38, is charged with abusive sexual contact and indecent viewing of 41 male patients at Madigan Army Medical Center, the hospital at Lewis-McChord. One patient who was initially included in the case has been removed.
Dr. Michael Stockin stands in front of a Defense Health Agency display board during a 2019 event. (MDedge)
Stockin, an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist, was assigned to Madigan Army Medical Center in June 2019. He enlisted in 2013 and previously was assigned to Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and deployed for five months to Iraq.
Army investigators have been looking into possible cases of abuse by Stockin during his earlier assignments. No charges have been filed from those deployments.
Robert Capovilla, a former Army lawyer representing Stockin, could not be reached Thursday for comment. The Army’s eDocket showed Capovilla attended the hearing, along with other civilian and military defense attorneys.
Stockin has not entered a plea to the charges, but Capovilla has said the soldier plans to plead not guilty at the appropriate point in the proceedings.
Stockin continues to be barred from seeing patients. He has been assigned unspecified administrative duties at JBLM.
On Thursday, defense attorneys also requested the trial take place at another venue. It is scheduled now to happen at Lewis-McChord.
“The judge took the motion under advisement until ‘voir dire,’ “ McCaskill said. “This means the case proceeds as is and if a fair and impartial panel cannot be found at JBLM through the voir dire process, a change of venue may be granted at that time.”
The voir dire process involves jury selection.
The judge set additional hearings for May 9 and July 9-11.
