Tulley Gate at Fort Belvoir, Va., on Oct. 24, 2024. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
An Army lieutenant colonel called out of retirement by the service to face a court-martial at Fort Belvoir, Va., for an accusation of sexual assault has had the charges against him dropped, according to court records.
Lt. Col. Adam Winograd, 47, pleaded not guilty in April to the charge that he had sex with a major without her consent in Manassas on Feb. 24, 2022, according to the charge sheet and online court records. The woman’s name is redacted from the charge sheet.
He was also charged with assault for a 2018 altercation with his then-teenaged son, which was also dropped.
Col. Joseph Messina, Fort Belvoir garrison commander and the convening authority on Winograd’s case, dismissed the charges against the retired officer on Jan. 16, about a month before the court-martial was scheduled to begin. Officials at Fort Belvoir did not respond to a request for comment on why he made the decision.
The move came about two weeks after the judge in the case ordered Messina’s legal counsel advise him on whether the evidence in the case was strong enough to obtain and sustain a conviction, said Nathan Freeburg, an attorney for Winograd.
Doing so is required by a policy that went into effect Jan. 1, 2024. But based on Messina’s testimony provided in the court documents, the commander might not have received such legal guidance.
Freeburg said it is possible that this led to Messina withdrawing the charges.
“Lt. Col. Winograd intends now to proceed with his life,” he said. “He’s happy that the Army has applied the appropriate legal standard and seen the deficiencies in a case against him.”
Dismissing the yearslong case before trial leaves fundamental questions unanswered, said Ryan Guilds, special victims counsel for the major.
“My client is committed to pursuing those answers, not just for herself but for every victim who faces the prospect of reporting and pursuing accountability and justice,” he said.
Before Winograd retired in December 2022, the Army had already attempted to charge him for the same sexual-assault accusation. The case ended after a preliminary hearing to review evidence in the case determined the charge should not move to a court-martial, according to court documents.
Civilian authorities also had considered prosecuting Winograd but also determined there was not enough evidence, according to court documents.
The major lobbied Lt. Gen. Allan Pepin, then the commander of the Military District of Washington, to appoint someone else to re-examine the case because of possible bias. Pepin did not determine any bias in the original decision but in May 2023 agreed to allow a review from another convening authority “in an abundance of caution,” according to court documents.
A second preliminary hearing was held in February 2024 and found probable cause for the charge of sexual assault. Messina then moved the charges forward for a court-martial.
The Office of Special Trial Counsel, which was established in December to handle certain charges, including sexual assault, said it is not involved in Winograd’s prosecution. The office has the authority to bring back older cases but it did not do so in this case.
