Posted on 02/22/2006 10:30:32 PM PST by DuckFan4ever
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Lamar Owens, quarterback of Navy's 2005 football squad, has been charged with raping a female midshipmen last month in her dormitory room, the academy announced Wednesday.
"These charges are accusations, and Midshipman Owens is presumed innocent until proven otherwise," academy spokesman Cmdr. Rod Gibbons said.
Since the alleged attack last month occurred on academy grounds, Owens was charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the investigation is being handled by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, Gibbons said.
The academy did not release the name of the woman. Gibbons said the academy was offering her support and counseling.
Owens, a 22-year-old senior from Savannah, Ga., would not be available to comment, Gibbons said.
"He remains assigned to the Naval Academy and will continue to attend classes, performing other duties normally assigned to midshipmen pending results of the investigation," Gibbons said. He said the academy took steps to prevent contact between Owens and the woman.
An Article 32 hearing, similar to a civilian grand jury inquiry, will be held to determine if there is sufficient evidence to go ahead with the case, he said.
The military academies have been under scrutiny since 2003, when women at the Air Force Academy in Colorado began coming forward with accusations that they had been sexually assaulted by fellow cadets over the previous decade and were ignored or ostracized by commanders when they spoke out.
A Pentagon task force found that hostile attitudes and inappropriate treatment of women also persisted at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and at the Naval Academy.
Earlier this month, a senior at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., was charged with sexually assaulting six female cadets in the campus barracks and other sites. Webster M. Smith, 22, a linebacker on the academy's football team, was charged under military law with rape, assault, indecent assault and sodomy, school officials said. Smith insists he is innocent, his lawyer has said.
Owens guided Navy's football team to an 8-4 season record that included victories over Air Force and Army and a victory in the Poinsettia Bowl over Colorado State.
The academy's 2006 starting quarterback will be chosen during spring practice, which starts March 27, said Scott Strasemeier, head of the Navy's sports information office.
Hopefully this charge will prove false. What a mess.
Bull.
He's already been pre-tried, pre-judged, and his career is stillborn.
It's not the evidence, it's the seriousness of the charge.
The Navy must have changed since I got out 11 years ago. Back then, the mere accusation would ruin a career, no proof needed. The burden of proof was on the accused. I've seen many good men ruined by some low ranking girlie that didn't want to do 'degrading' work (swab a deck, field day a space, etc.) and claim they sexually harassed them.
If this guy is guilty, he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the UCMJ.
Oh for Pete's sake. In her dormitory room? Yeah, yeah. And no always means no.
And by the way, we know his name. We don't know her name. If he is not convicted, we still know his name, and we don't know her name. Point: young men next to young other humans, especially female, provokes young dormitory activities. When it's your tax dollars at work paying for this situation, well.....
The name will become a matter of publice record.
I bet it already is.
Its just that the "journalists" choose not to print it.
The charge sheet has the name.
The Article 32 is a public adversarial hearing unless the defense requests otherwise.
Jethro Gibbs and team will get to the truth of this, dontcha think?
Fully one third of the article tells this story:
The military academies have been under scrutiny since 2003, when women at the Air Force Academy in Colorado began coming forward with accusations that they had been sexually assaulted by fellow cadets over the previous decade and were ignored or ostracized by commanders when they spoke out.
A Pentagon task force found that hostile attitudes and inappropriate treatment of women also persisted at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and at the Naval Academy.
Earlier this month, a senior at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., was charged with sexually assaulting six female cadets in the campus barracks and other sites. Webster M. Smith, 22, a linebacker on the academy's football team, was charged under military law with rape, assault, indecent assault and sodomy, school officials said. Smith insists he is innocent, his lawyer has said.
How do these cadets and midshipmen have time to study when they're so busy assaulting the coeds?
I heard they took seaman samples.
It's just an Army plot so that Army can actually have a chance against Navy.
Bull. He's been charged under the UCMJ. There is no presumption of innocence under the UCMJ.
Yes, if consensual, they are both gone.
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