KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — An airman accused of killing a co-worker is to go on trial Monday, more than a year after he was found driving through Kaiserslautern with the dead man in the passenger seat of his car.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Sean M. Oliver faces several charges related to the 2013 death of Petty Officer 2nd Class Dmitry Chepusov, whose wife has admitted to having a relationship with the airman. Oliver, a broadcast technician, and Chepusov, a Navy broadcaster, worked for the American Forces Network at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
The most serious charge against Oliver — premeditated murder — carries a sentence of up to life in prison without parole. Air Force officials earlier took the death penalty off the table.
The divorced father of three is also charged with making a false official statement, obstructing justice, obstructing proceedings and with assaulting another person in an incident in the U.S. in early 2012.
German authorities held on to some key evidence in the case for months after handing Oliver over to U.S. custody, arguing that they would not participate in what could have been a death penalty case. The Germans released the evidence, including portions of Chepusov’s throat, after the Air Force moved it forward as a non-capital case.
The Air Force has blocked off two weeks for the court-martial, but it could go even longer because of the number of witnesses expected to testify, the Air Force judge in the case said at an October hearing. At that time, the judge ruled that incriminating statements Oliver made to investigators could be presented at trial.
Among those expected to take the stand against Oliver is Pvt. Cody Kramer, an AFN colleague, who was court-martialed last year and served time in prison after pleading guilty to lying to officials investigating Chepusov’s murder. Kramer was at the scene the night of the murder, and his plea agreement requires that he testify against Oliver.
In earlier hearings, witnesses testified that Kramer, Oliver and Chepusov had gone out drinking with two other AFN colleagues — Staff Sgt. Thomas Skinkle and Staff Sgt. Shao-Lung Ping — the night Chepusov was murdered. According to most accounts, all five ended up at Skinkle’s apartment, where Oliver is alleged to have strangled Chepusov.
Oliver, who was pulled over by German police for driving erratically early Dec. 14, 2013, allegedly told police that he’d found Chepusov walking drunk around downtown Kaiserslautern with a towel and a bath mat just moments before the traffic stop. At the hearing in October, the Air Force’s lead investigator on the case said he thought that version of events was implausible, based on blood and other evidence found at Skinkle’s apartment.
At his own court-martial in October, Kramer testified that Oliver “committed the murder,” and solicited Kramer’s help in covering it up.
The aggravated assault charge against Oliver stems from a separate incident, in early 2012, in which Oliver allegedly choked a man he found in bed with his then wife.
millham.matthew@stripes.com
Twitter: @mattmillham
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