April trial set for retired Army general facing rape charges

MANASSAS, Va. – A retired Army general is scheduled to be tried in April on rape and incest charges in Virginia.

Court documents show James J. Grazioplene’s trial in in Prince William General District Court is scheduled to begin on April 29.

The 69-year-old Grazioplene, a retired two-star officer, was indicted by a grand jury earlier this month on three counts of rape and three counts of incest.

The Washington Post reports that Grazioplene has called the charges “false and incorrect.”

Grazioplene faced a court-martial, but the charges were dismissed in March. A ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in another case effectively limited the statute of limitations in Grazioplene’s case to five years. Army investigators were focusing on accusations from the 1980s.

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Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com