Low-Life Update: Grazioplene

Prior to his death, Jonn wrote a couple of TAH articles about this . . . individual.  You can read his first article here, and his second article here.

Unfortunately, after Jonn passed the storyline appears to have gone adrift.  But I ran across some info on the matter the other day; here’s an update.  Fair warning:  some of the links contain material you might find disturbing. I wouldn’t recommend reading them shortly before or after eating.

As Jonn noted in his second story, Grazioplene was recalled to active duty to stand trial for raping a minor a minimum of six times over a 6 year period – from 1983 to 1989.  And now, as the old spoken song intro goes:  “Good day!  I have good news, und I have bad news.”

As Jonn notes, Grazioplene was recalled to active duty for trial.  The first 3 counts against him were dismissed due to statute of limitations issues.  Why that happened is a bit complicated, but I’ll summarize:  prior to 1986, under the UCMJ rape had a 3-year statute of limitations.  A UCMJ change in 1986 eliminated the statute of limitations for rape and other UCMJ offenses “punishable by death”.  However, the first three crimes were apparently committed prior to that UCMJ change becoming effective and were thus dismissed.

Grazioplene was to be tried via general court martial in spring 2018 on the remaining three counts.  Unfortunatly, in February 2018 the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) decided the case US v. Mangahas.  In that case, the CAAF held that previous SCOTUS decisions (Coker v. Georgia and Kennedy v. Louisiana) meant that the UCMJ extension of the statute of limitations to the crime of rape was invalid and that the UCMJ’s general 5-year statute of limitations should be applied to the crime of rape instead.  Due to this CAAF decison the remaining 3 UCMJ counts against Grazioplene were also dismissed in March 2018.

Sidebar:  The government has appealed the CAAF rationale in the Mangahas decision in US v. Briggs (a consolidation of Briggs and 2 other cases that resulted in rape convictions being overturned via Mangahas).  Oral arguments before the SCOTUS were held on 13 October 2020.

So, that’s it?  Another case of “low-life runs out the clock, wins?”

Well, yes.  And no.

You see, three of the crimes for which Grazioplene was charged occurred in Woodbridge, VA.  That means they’re also subject to prosecution as crimes under Virginia state law.

Rape is indeed against state law in Virigina.  Moreover, Virginia has no statute of limitations on rape – and didn’t back in the 1980s, either.

Grazioplene was charged in Prince William County, VA, with three counts of rape in December 2018; bail was denied.  After being held in custody for roughly 18 months, in May of this year Grazioplene pleaded guilty to those three counts of child rape.

Score one for justice, at least partially.

Due to a plea bargain (which may have been coordinated with his victim; statements by her attorney seem to indicate she’s OK with the sentence), he was sentenced to time served plus 20 years probation.  At age 70, that’s virtually certainly lifetime probation. Plus, he’s now a felon and required to register as a sex offender, both of which will put an additional “crimp in his style”.

It’s also possible the Army could hold a grade determination board and severely reduce him in retired rank (and thus in retired pay).  So he has that to worry about, too.

And if the SCOTUS reduces the CAAF’s Mangahas decision, in theory he could end up back on active duty again facing court-martial.

Hope you “enjoy” your new status as a felon and sex-offender, Grazioplene.  IMO you didn’t get what you really deserve, but the SCOTUS has said you can’t get that.

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Author’s Note:  hat-tip to the TAH commenter (ninja?) who posted a link to the story about Grazioplene’s conviction in Virginia in comments a few days ago.  That led me to “pull the thread” and write this update.

Category: Crime, Legal, Shitbags