Maximillian Potter
Executive Editor
5280 Magazine

Citation
When the Air Force Academy announced in 2002 that it would court martial, for the first time, a cadet on charges of rape, the overwhelming public reaction was, "It's about time." Maximillian Potter's reaction was to find out what happened. After he did, in a riveting piece in Denver's city magazine, 5280, the charges against the 20-year-old cadet were dismissed. The cadet's father later told Potter, "You saved my son's life. Thank you." The Air Force story was one of three extraordinary pieces by Potter submitted for the Michael Kelly Award. In his other stories, Potter uncovered evidence that called into question the handling by authorities of a 1975 murder of an American Indian activist and the 2004 suicides of two Army privates. Potter's articles are hard to put down. They're beautifully written, ambitious in intent, and-most of all-fearless in their pursuit of truth.

Excerpt
Conduct Unbecoming
February/March 2004
It was after midnight, and Jacqueline Woods*, an 18-year-old freshman at the United States Air Force Academy, was feeling too ashamed to sleep. She flicked on her computer and saw that her brother, an academy senior who lived in a neighboring dorm, was also online. As they began exchanging instant messages, she decided to tell him what had happened-at least what she could remember.
Hey Josh, I need to talk to you about something serious but I don't know if I can.
What is it?
Last night, I did something really stupid and it turned out really, really bad.
Like what?
Woods explained that the night before-Oct. 18, 2002-she had downed a squeeze bottle full of booze in her quarters and then went to the nearby room of sophomores Douglas Meester and Jason Wager. There, with Meester, Wager, and Robert Rando, a junior, she drank even more.
[I] got completely messed up to the point where I couldn't hold myself up. And for pretty much the whole night I guess I was hanging off of Rando, but he was messed up too and was trying to make arrangements to kick his roommate out so we could go over there, but still I was too out of it to know what all was really going on. It seemed like everything wasn't real.
OK.
The even more fucked up part was the stupid [Meester] who's room we were in, [who's] on frickin' alcohol probation and all this shit, kept tryin' to make out with me every time Rando left the room to kick his roommate out. Finally, Rando was gone for like 15 minutes or something and I had to be propped up by [Meester] and I guess he thought because I was leaning all over him that I wanted to get on him-but I started blacking out at that point. It was like in and out, but basically the guy was messin' with me because I couldn't really move.
Anything else?
Anyway, he had to like carry me back and I was still fuckin' out of it until like 10 a.m.-but then I would get flashes of things that happened last night that I didn't remember and just everything's fucked up.
Flashes of what?
Like stuff the guy was doing to me.
What was he doing"
Everything and it's all my fault.
Did he rape you?
Yes.

*Jacqueline Woods is a pseudonym. 5280 does not publish the names of alleged victims in rape cases.

Biography
Maximillian Potter, 33, is the executive editor of Denver's city magazine, 5280. Before joining 5280 in March 2004, Potter was a staff writer with Premiere magazine, Philadelphia magazine, and GQ. Potter has written often about crime, politics, the law and the military. He has received awards for narrative writing and reporting from organizations such as the Society of Professional Journalists and the City and Regional Magazine Association. This year Potter was a finalist for the Medill School of Journalism's John Bartlow Memorial Award for Public Interest Journalism and for two National Magazine Awards, in the categories of Public Interest and Reporting. Potter, who is also writer-at-large for Best Life and Men's Health magazines, is a graduate of Allegheny College and obtained a master's degree from Northwestern University. A native of Philadelphia, he lives in Denver with his wife, Lori, and their two sons, Jack and True.