Just less than a month before an Army General’s trial on sexual assault charges begins, Lieutenant Colonel William Helixon told his superior that he thinks the case should not push forward as he believes the accuser lied under oath.

Helixon, the Army’s former lead prosecutor, was in tears when he said that the accuser lied about critical evidence. He also wanted most of the charges against Brigadier General Jeffrey A. Sinclair to be dropped. Sinclair is facing charges that include using physical force on a female captain to perform oral sex on him. According to Brigadier General Paul Wilson, Helixon was pressured to pursue the case in order to crackdown instances of sexual assault in the military.

Last year, studies showed that 70 sexual assaults occurred in the military every day

In January, Helixon was convinced that the accuser lied about evidence collected from her mobile phone.

According to Wilson, Helixon was in tears and appeared to be distraught when he said that he wanted the charges dropped against Sinclair. He was going through some personal issues and appeared to be illogical. “He was not fit for any kind of duty. I would not have trusted him to drive a car,” said Wilson.

After almost two years of leading the case, Helixon was pulled out and taken to a military hospital for evaluation of his mental state. A new prosecutor was set in place in time for the trial, which is slated to start this week.

 Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair faces rare court martial

Sinclair is facing several criminal charges and has pleaded not guilty to eight of them including violating orders, indecent acts, forcible sodomy, and conduct unbecoming an officer. If convicted for these charges, Sinclair could spend the rest of his life inside the walls of a military prison. He also admitted to having a three-year affair while in Afghanistan and Iraq, which is enough to end his time in the Army.

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