When a military jury begins hearing his case today, Tech. Sgt. Anthony Lizana will face a long list of sex charges stemming from his work at an Air Force medical logistics squadron here and a daunting potential sentence — 87½ years in prison.

Prosecutors say he had improper sexual contact with eight women, all of them lower-ranking Air Force personnel, sometimes against their will.

Taken together, the seven charges and 17 specifications of misconduct rival some of the worst of the instructor misconduct scandal at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland that began in 2011. The scandal triggered congressional hearings and led to a makeover of Air Force basic and technical training.

Lizana, however, worked for the base’s 59th Medical Logistics and Readiness Squadron, not the wing that oversees the instruction of recruits and airmen.

Besides the prison time, he could get a dishonorable discharge, fines, forfeitures of pay and reduction in rank.

His trial, set for Monday, got off to a rocky start. A juror fell ill and was hospitalized, prompting the judge, Lt. Col. Andrew Kalavanos, to call a recess. New potential jurors will be brought in to replace the sickened airman today.

Lizana is charged with failing to maintain professional relationships and being derelict in performing his duties with three women — identified as Airman 1, Senior Airman 2 and Senior Airman 3 — between Sept. 1, 2014, and Dec. 1, 2015. He is accused of maltreating a woman identified as Airman 1st Class 4 by repeatedly rubbing her back and shoulders with his hand.

Two women in this case were subject to Lizana’s orders. He is accused of providing alcohol to two airmen who were under 21.

Lizana also is charged with unlawfully kissing a woman on the forehead, identified as Airman 1st Class 7, around April 1, 2014, and Aug. 1, 2015. He’s charged with touching another woman, Airman 1st Class 1, on her stomach and waist with his hand without her consent around June 26, 2015.

That, prosecutors suggest in their charge sheet, was a pattern. Lizana is accused of having sexual contact without the consent of Senior Airman 5 by kissing her neck and touching her crotch around Feb. 28, 2015. While in Alaska between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013, he is accused of touching the crotch of a woman identified as Staff Sergeant 6, also without her consent.

Though married, prosecutors say, he had consensual sex with two airmen, identified on the charging document as Senior Airman 3 on or about Sept. 1, 2014, and around Dec. 1, 2015, and Senior Airman 2 around Sept. 1, 2014, and about a month later. Adultery is illegal in the armed forces.

The Lackland scandal saw 35 basic training instructors investigated for misconduct involving 69 recruits and technical training students since 2011, but the bulk of those cases were settled. Just one resulted in an acquittal.

Such misconduct trials have been rare in the two years since the last of those defendants, Master Sgt. Michael Silva, a former training instructor, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping a recruit in 1995 and his then-wife in 2007.

The Air Force has overhauled basic training to include a week of character development to raise awareness about sexual misconduct and help recruits cope with the stresses of life as fledgling airmen.

The number of accusers could complicate Lizana’s defense, said Jeff Addicott, a St. Mary’s University School of Law professor.

“If it was one or two, it would be a case of perhaps he said, she said, but when you’ve got eight different individuals it’s going to be difficult for him to explain away that type of misconduct,” he said.

“It’s hard to get five or six people together to agree that misconduct has occurred,” added Addicott, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. “This spells a very difficult time for the defendant. In addition, in today’s Air Force, this type of misconduct has zero tolerance attached to it and if he’s convicted, he can expect zero mercy.”

sigc@express-news.net