Cadet Facing Rape Charge, Court-Martial

Feb. 12 -- When Douglas Meester enrolled in the Air Force Academy three years ago, he felt he had the right stuff to succeed at the prestigious military school. But today, the 20-year-old Meester is back home in Florida awaiting his day in military court.

Watch 20/20's full report Friday at 10 p.m.

He is the first Air Force Academy cadet scheduled to be court-martialed for allegedly raping a female cadet.

But Meester says he is innocent of rape, saying he had "consensual sex" with a first-year cadet. "It was a stupid mistake to have sex with an underclassman, but it was never at a point of thinking it was stupid because I had done something which broke the law," he told 20/20's Chris Cuomo.

If convicted, Meester could face life in prison.

Journalist Max Potter wrote an article questioning the merits of the case against Meester. It appears in the current issue of the Denver-based magazine 5280.

To read Potter's story on the case, visit this URL: http://www.5280.com/issues/0402/conduct.php

When Potter began his own investigative reporting on the story, he said, he was stunned that there didn't seem to be "hard concrete, evidence" against Meester.

Meester, along with defense attorney Frank Spinner, spoke with 20/20 and described what he said happened in his dorm room on the night of Oct. 18, 2002.

Shortly after midnight, Robert Rando, a third-year cadet, came to Meester's room looking to borrow a bottle of tequila to drink with the cadet, whom we call "Marie." Meester told Rando he'd share his liquor with him and Marie, but told him they had to come to his room to drink it.

Marie was one of the women who appeared in 20/20's story on the Air Force Academy sex assault scandal last year.

Getting Drunk on ‘Body Shots’

Meester said Rando and Marie, who had already had a drink that evening, came to his room and the three began drinking shots of tequila together.