Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill has halted the nomination of an Air Force lieutenant general who's been tapped to be the vice chairman of U.S. Space Command.
McCaskill said in a statement on Thursday that she wants more information about Lt. Gen. Susan Helms' decision last year to overturn a jury conviction in a sexual assault trial.
In that case, according to the , a captain at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California was convicted in November 2011 of sexually assaulting a lieutenant, and sentenced to 60 days confinement and a dismissal from the service. Four months later, Helms overturned the conviction.
A spokeswoman for Space Command told the Air Force Times that Helms "could not be satisfied the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt burden of proof had been met and therefore declined to approve the conviction."
McCaskill, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and has been outspoken about the military's handling of cases of sexual assault. Her hold keeps the Senate from approving Helms' promotion.
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