Marine Jailed for Sex With Widow

January 14, 2009

SAN DIEGO - A U.S. Marine sergeant has pleaded guilty to adultery and received a 90-day sentence for having sex with the widow of a young man he had recruited.

Stephen Kuehler, 30, a recruiter in St. Louis, was court-martialed Tuesday in San Diego, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The base there regional headquarters for recruiters in St. Louis.
Amy Patton testified that Kuehler got in touch with her after her husband, Michael Patton, was killed in Afghanistan last year, less than a year after their marriage. Patton joined the Marines in 2007 immediately after his high school graduation.

"He was very helpful," she testified. "I considered him kind of a big-brother type."
The sex occurred at Patton's house after she had drunk tequila on top of a prescription anti-depressant.

David Ahn, Kuehler's lawyer, said that his client made a "mistake" while he, like Amy Patton, was grieving over Patton's death. But Capt. Tyler Hart, the prosecutor, said that he was guilty of an act of betrayal.

"Most of all he betrayed the trust of a fellow Marine," Hart said.

...and what a ho.