Captain: Army general in sex case threatened to kill me

U.S. Army via Reuters Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair, a U.S. Army general facing charges of forcible sodomy and engaging in inappropriate relationships stemming from allegations that got him sent home from Afghanistan this year, is seen in this handout photo received September 26, 2012. By NBC News wire services Updated at 12:39 p.m. ET: FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- A former subordinate to an Army general facing sex crimes charges testified Tuesday that the general started an affair with her in Iraq and later threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone. The woman said she was honored at first by the attention from Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair, who she said was highly regarded. They first had sex in 2008 at a forward operating base in Iraq, she said. "I was extremely intimidated by him. Everybody in the brigade spoke about him like he was a god," she said. NBC News and The Associated Press do not identify victims of alleged sexual assaults. Now a captain, she testified on the second day of a military hearing at Fort Bragg on whether there was enough evidence to court-martial Sinclair on charges including forcible sodomy, wrongful sexual conduct and engaging in inappropriate relationships. It is a rare criminal case against a general and the details from the hearing are the first public narrative of the alleged offenses that prosecutors say involved a total of five women: four of them military subordinates and one a civilian. The Fort Bragg-based general is accused of 26 violations of military law including forcible sodomy, wrongful sexual conduct, possessing pornography while deployed and conduct unbecoming of an officer. Prosecutors seek death for soldier accused of Afghan massacre Prosecutors said the alleged sexual contacts took place in Afghanistan, Iraq and Germany, as well as at military bases in the United States. Sinclair was sent home in May from Afghanistan, where he had served as a deputy commander for support, officials said.  During testimony on Tuesday, Sinclair repeatedly rolled his eyes, sighed audibly and stared at his former aide from the defense table. She did not look at him. The captain testified that she believed Sinclair's threats because he had gone through special forces training, knew how to kill with his hands and had a reputation as a killer in battle. Sinclair was deputy commander in charge of logistics and support for the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan before being abruptly relieved in May amid a criminal probe. He has been on special assignment since then at Fort Bragg, the sprawling post that is home to the 82nd Airborne. Sinclair's former commanding officer, Maj. Gen. James Huggins, testified Monday that he launched the criminal investigation that led to the charges after the female captain told him Sinclair forced her to have sex. Nearly 30 Air Force Academy cadets injured as ritual turns into 'brawl' Huggins said that on March 19, the captain came to his office late at night in tears. She reported that she had been involved in a three-year sexual affair with Sinclair, then her direct commander and a married man. Adultery is a crime under the military code of justice. According to Huggins, the captain said Sinclair had once forced her to perform oral sex on him, but that she also had sex willingly with her boss at Army bases in the United States and on deployments to Germany, Iraq and at the airborne division's headquarters in Afghanistan. When she had tried to end the affair, Sinclair had threatened her and persisted in pushing for sex, according to Huggins' testimony. But she also told Huggins she finally decided to report Sinclair after finding emails exchanged with other women in his account. The captain testified that Sinclair could be cold and demeaning to her and other women in the brigade, calling some of the other women degrading names. She testified she told him he shouldn't talk about female officers that way. "He said, 'He was a general and he could say whatever the (expletive) he wanted," she testified. She said Sinclair was extremely controlling, even telling her when and where she could use the bathroom. She described two instances where he forced her to perform oral sex. Prosecutors asked if he would have been able to determine that she did not want to participate and she responded: "Yes, I was crying." The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. More content from NBCNews.com: Pulpit politics: Pastors endorse candidates, thumbing noses at IRS Boy falls into zoo exhibit, mauled to death by African painted dogs Weed wars: If states legalize pot, will feds still crack down? Delphi retirees say government betrayed them Nonvoters: They're too busy, fed up or say their vote doesn't count Video: Marathon runners racing to help out Sandy victims Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Gunman kills 1, wounds 3 at Calif. company, police say

By NBC News and wire services One person was killed and three were wounded Tuesday by a gunman at a food service equipment company in Fresno, Calif., police said. The suspected gunman, a co-worker of the victims, was found outside the plant with a gunshot wound.  Two of the victims are in critical condition. The suspect was identified as Lawrence Jones, 42. He is in critical condition from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police say. The shooting occurred at the Apple Valley Farms plant in the central part of the city. Apple Valley Farms, Inc. is a food service equipment company that was established in 2005, according to online business records. A call to the company went to a voicemail recording that said "due to an emergency we are closed for the day." The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Captain: Army general in sex case threatened to kill me

U.S. Army via Reuters Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair, a U.S. Army general facing charges of forcible sodomy and engaging in inappropriate relationships stemming from allegations that got him sent home from Afghanistan this year, is seen in this handout photo received September 26, 2012. By Reuters FORT BRAGG, North Carolina - Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair, a 27-year Army veteran, used his superior rank to force subordinates into improper sexual relations, military prosecutors said Monday at a hearing to determine if he should face a court-martial.  The Fort Bragg-based general is accused of 26 violations of military law including forcible sodomy, wrongful sexual conduct, possessing pornography while deployed and conduct unbecoming of an officer. The charges stem from inappropriate behavior toward four female subordinates and a civilian over the last five years, Army prosecutors said, revealing new details about charges brought against Sinclair in September. Prosecutors said the alleged sexual contacts took place in Afghanistan, Iraq and Germany, as well as at military bases in the United States. Sinclair was sent home in May from Afghanistan, where he had served as a deputy commander for support, officials said.  Prosecutors seek death for soldier accused of Afghan massacre Major General James Huggins testified on Monday that one of the women, a captain who Sinclair had requested be assigned to his unit in Afghanistan, tearfully reported having a three-year affair with him. The woman said in March she had looked at Sinclair's emails and found exchanges with other women, Huggins testified. She also reported that Sinclair had forcibly sodomized her after grabbing her by the neck, and threatened her career if she backed out of the relationship, he said. "She wanted out," said Huggins, one of Sinclair's superiors. "She said she had tried, but Sinclair persisted." Huggins said Sinclair admitted to showing "poor judgment" in a limited number of encounters with the woman. Prosecutors also accused Sinclair of threatening to kill one subordinate, or her family, if she revealed having an affair with him. Nude photos They said he asked women to send him nude photos and berated female subordinates on several occasions. Sinclair is accused of claiming more than $4,000 worth of charges for personal travel as military business, and of deleting emails during the investigation, prosecutors said. Defense attorneys suggested the personal trips may have included Army business.  When asked by hearing officer Major General Perry Wiggins if he would make a statement regarding the charges, Sinclair said "No, sir." His defense team declined to comment. The hearing proceeded despite an attempt by defense attorneys to have the case dismissed or government prosecutors removed over concerns that they had improper access to confidential emails between Sinclair, his attorneys and his wife. Nearly 30 Air Force Academy cadets injured as ritual turns into 'brawl' "How does he get a fair trial if you have access to his personal communications with his attorney?" said Sinclair's defense lawyer, Lieutenant Colonel Jackie Thompson. Leona Mansapit, a criminal investigations special agent, testified that she reviewed emails between Sinclair and his wife and attorney, and that military prosecutors had seen at least one of those emails. Mansapit said she did not appoint an independent researcher to review Sinclair's emails as required because she lacked the resources to do so. Wiggins briefly postponed the proceedings while the emails were reviewed by a legal adviser, but ultimately decided to hear evidence as planned. Wiggins will recommend whether Sinclair should stand trial on any of the charges. Dozens more witnesses are expected to give testimony at the hearing this week. More content from NBCNews.com: Pulpit politics: Pastors endorse candidates, thumbing noses at IRS Boy falls into zoo exhibit, mauled to death by African painted dogs Weed wars: If states legalize pot, will feds still crack down? Delphi retirees say government betrayed them Nonvoters: They're too busy, fed up or say their vote doesn't count Video: Marathon runners racing to help out Sandy victims Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Fire at N.C. hospital kills 1 patient, injures 3

By The Associated Press One patient was killed and three others suffered slight injuries in a fire at Durham Regional Hospital in central North Carolina early Tuesday. Firefighters were called to a report of an explosion on the sixth floor of the hospital around 2:15 a.m., Durham Fire Department spokeswoman Sierra Jackson said. The firefighters discovered there had been no explosion and the fire had been extinguished by the hospital sprinkler system. The cause of the fire was still under investigation, Jackson said later Tuesday morning. Hospital officials were still investigating exactly where the fire occurred and how, said Katie Galbraith, hospital chief of operations. The hospital was operating normally several hours later. The sixth floor of Durham Regional is a unit operated by Select Specialty Hospitals, a company that provides care for critical and complex cases that require more attention than conventional patients, the Raleigh News and Observer newspaper reported. Other patients in the 30-bed unit were moved to other parts of the hospital, which is owned by Duke University. The company did not immediately return calls for comment.  Some other patients were moved because of flooding caused by the sprinklers. Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com "They are safe and they are being well cared for," Galbraith said. The three slightly injured patients, who had been on ventilators before the fire, were taken to the emergency room to be checked for smoke inhalation and then sent to the intensive care unit. The names of the fatality and those injured were not immediately released. Galbraith said the hospital staff practices for just such emergencies. "Our focus is on making sure people are safe," she said. "They did exactly what they're trained to do." Durham Regional is a 369-bed acute care hospital. Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter NBC News' Jim Gold contributed to this report. More content from NBCNews.com: Pulpit politics: Pastors endorse candidates, thumbing noses at IRS Boy falls into zoo exhibit, mauled to death by African painted dogs Weed wars: If states legalize pot, will feds still crack down? Delphi retirees say government betrayed them Nonvoters: They're too busy, fed up or say their vote doesn't count Video: Marathon runners racing to help out Sandy victims Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Frum: Our voting system is a disgrace

A Miami/Dade County Election worker shows a ballot to an observer during the manual recount in November 2000 in Miami. David Frum: Tuesday's vote is subject to all manner of disputes between parties He says U.S. voting system is locally controlled, gives too much power to politicians Other democracies establish national standards and enforce them equally, he says Frum: After dispute over 2000 election, reforms were promised but haven't materialized Editor's note: David Frum, a CNN contributor, is a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He is the author of seven books, including a new novel, "Patriots," and was a special assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2002. Washington (CNN) -- When the polls close in most other democracies, the results are known almost instantly. Ballots are usually counted accurately and rapidly, and nobody disputes the result. Complaints of voter fraud are rare; complaints of voter suppression are rarer still. The kind of battle we are seeing in Florida -- where Democrats and Republicans will go to court over whether early voting should span 14 days or eight -- simply does not happen in Germany, Canada, Britain or France. The ballot uncertainty that convulsed the nation after Florida's vote in 2000 could not happen in Mexico or Brazil. Almost everywhere else, elections are run by impartial voting agencies. In France, elections are the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior, which establishes places and hours of voting, prints ballots (France still uses paper) and counts the votes. In Germany, an independent federal returning officer oversees a complex state and federal voting system. In Canada, federal elections are managed by a specialized agency, Elections Canada. Mexico, emerging from a sad history of electoral manipulation, created in the 1990s a respected independent agency, the Federal Electoral Institute. Brazil has nationwide electronic voting, producing instantaneous, uncontested results. President Barack Obama: My vision for America No voting system is perfect. Britain has faced allegations of chronic fraud in absentee balloting. As I write, Lithuanian politics are convulsed by allegations of vote buying by one of its political parties. Become a fan of CNNOpinion Stay up to date on the latest opinion, analysis and conversations through social media. Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion and follow us @CNNOpinion on Twitter. We welcome your ideas and comments. But here's what doesn't happen in other democracies: Politicians of one party do not set voting schedules to favor their side and harm the other. Politicians do not move around voting places to gain advantages for themselves or to disadvantage their opponents. In fact, in almost no other country do politicians have any say in the administration of elections at all. Here's a story from the 2000 election. Like many old cities, St. Louis has not invested in modern voting equipment. Voting delays are notorious. At the scheduled poll-closing time, voters were still lined up throughout the city. Al Gore's campaign, desperate to win the state, asked a judge to extend voting for three more hours in the heavily Democratic city -- but only in the city. A state judge agreed. Republicans appealed, the state judge was overruled, and the polls were closed after remaining open a total of 45 additional minutes beyond the legal closing time. What is inspiring you to vote? Online voting: The future of elections? Ohio prepares for election Can e-voting machines be hacked? Republicans won Missouri's 11 electoral votes by a margin of 78,786 out of the almost 2.4 million cast. Think about what's incredible here: Lines were lengthy in St. Louis City because in the United States, almost uniquely, local governments choose how voting is cast and counted. People who live in localities with less capable governments, such as St. Louis, will face greater delay and difficulty in casting their vote. Mitt Romney: My vision for America When local Democratic officials saw themselves disadvantaged by the existing rules, they appealed to a judge for special treatment for its (likely) voters -- and only for those voters. (Good news: In Missouri, circuit judges are appointed by the governor and then confirmed in office by nonpartisan vote. In many states, however, judges are themselves elected in partisan elections.) The other party demanded that the existing rules be upheld, and the case was litigated on the fly, ending in a weird compromise that only failed to become a national scandal because the events in Florida were so much more dramatic. In any other democracy, voters nationwide would have cast their votes on the same kind of balloting equipment, subject to the same rules. The parties would have had a minimal role in supervising the election, and certainly would not have been allowed to ask for rule changes as the vote occurred. The voting would have been overseen by a national election commission, not by local judges, who might be nonpartisan -- but who very well might not. Change the list: You convinced them to vote Americans worry more about voter fraud than do voters in other countries, because they are the only country without a reliable system of national identification. In no other country, including federal systems such as Germany, Canada and Australia, does the citizen's opportunity to vote depend on the affluence and competence of his or her local government. In every other democracy, the vote is the means by which the people choose between the competing political parties -- not one more weapon by which the parties compete. The United States is an exceptional nation, but it is not always exceptional for good. The American voting system too is an exception: It is the most error-prone, the most susceptible to fraud, the most vulnerable to unfairness and one of the least technologically sophisticated on earth. After the 2000 fiasco, Americans resolved to do better. Isn't it past time to make good on that resolution? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum.

Cops: Rape suspect gave name, number to victim

By Darcy Spencer, NBCWashington.com Police in Washington D.C. arrested a suspect in two violent attacks after he gave his name and number to the second victim, according to court documents. DeMarco Myles, 19, wrote down his first name and cell phone number for a 19-year-old Howard University student after he allegedly raped her in her room at Bethune annex, an all-women's dorm, Friday afternoon. Police tracked the number to a Fourth Street NW address where Myles lives with his mother and arrested him. The first attack took place in a Rhode Island Row apartment Oct. 26 in Northeast D.C. The victim, a 24-year-old consultant, was working from home when she got a knock at the door about 2 p.m. by a man who said he was promoting a party. He forced his way in to her apartment before allegedly trying to kill her. She said she screamed at the top of her lungs and fought back as he kicked and beat her and stabbed her at least 25 times. Read the original report  |  More from NBCWashington.com The Howard student told police the suspect appeared in her room and made casual conversation about 1:15 p.m. Friday, one week after the first attack. She told him to get out, but he didn't. She began texting a friend, and the suspect pulled out brass knuckles with a purple blade, grabbed the victim's phone, texted the victim's friend and then raped the victim, according to court documents. Then he allegedly wrote the note, saying, "Since you don't know me, here's my number." He tried to cross out the phone number, according to court documents, but detectives were able to read it. A man matching Myles's description entered other rooms at Bethune but left when asked, detectives learned.  Myles told detectives that the sex with the Howard student was consensual, but he admitted forcing his way in to the Rhode Island Row apartment and stabbing her after she resisted, according to court documents. He asked detectives if she survived, saying he didn't mean to kill anyone. Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter In each attack, the suspect managed to get past several layers of security. At Howard, that included locked doors and a sign-in process. At Rhode Island Row, you need a key card for the front door, a key card for the elevator and a key card for the apartment. Howard is investigating how the man gained entry to the dorm: The safety of our campus community is paramount; we have consistently enhanced security and have taken additional steps to bolster security in residence halls. A security team is providing a visible 24-hour presence in all residence halls. The perimeter doors are secured with electric magnetic locks and a Key Card access system. Cameras monitor and record all entry and exit points.

Your Photos: Election Day in America

By Jon Sweeney Readers across the country are sharing their Election Day with us by sending photos of themselves voting, their polling stations, and what's important to them during this special day. It's easy to participate, just post your pictures on Twitter, Instagram and tag them #nbcpolitics, or upload your photos using the form at the bottom of this article. Please use the caption or tweet to tell us a little about the photo. We'll update this photo gallery throughout the day, so come back and see if we've selected your picture. Click the images below to see them larger, and read their captions. EDITOR'S NOTE: Photos selected by NBCNews.com, but captions and images are unedited Submit your photos below, or tag images #nbcpolitics on Instagram or Twitter. Related Links See reader photos in a state-by-state breakdown See reader images from before elction day Follow NBC News on Instagram Follow @NBCNewsPictures on Twitter Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA Campaigning with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, voting and election results.