Posted on 03/09/2006 9:45:54 PM PST by A.A. Cunningham
Navy QB accused of rape could face further charges
The Associated Press - WASHINGTON
Navy quarterback Lamar Owens could face additional charges stemming from the investigation of his alleged rape of a fellow academy midshipman in January, a Navy officer reviewing the case said Thursday.
Owens, from Savannah, Ga., is already charged in military court with rape, conduct unbecoming an officer and committing indecent assault. He may have also violated an order that he stay away from the alleged victim. He also allegedly had hundreds of pornographic images on his academy computer.
Thursday marked the second day of an Article 32 hearing _ akin to a grand jury review _ for Owens at the Washington Navy Yard on the rape allegations. The hearing is to determine whether the Owens' case should go to a court martial.
During the hearing, a Navy prosecutor presented the evidence of the two additional charges. As a result, the investigating officer presiding over the case said the hearing will be continued on April 3 to allow more time to investigate the new allegations.
Owens, 22, who led Navy's football team to an 8-4 record this season and was the team's most valuable player, did not testify during the two-day hearing. His defense attorneys presented only one witness, while prosecutors put the victim, several of her friends and investigator on the stand.
The woman, a 20-year-old junior at the Annapolis military school who has not been publicly identified, said Wednesday that she awoke from a drunken stupor to find Owens on top of her, having sex with her in the early morning of Jan. 29. Prosecutors played a tape a phone conversation she had with Owens a week later, in which he repeatedly says he is sorry and worries that she will contact the police.
But Owens' attorneys have tried to show it is unclear that the sex was not consensual. The woman admitted she was so drunk that she could not remember significant portions of that night. During questioning, Owens' attorney Steven Wrobel also suggested she may have embellished her story about the rape to cover for her breaking academy rules on drinking and having sex in dorms.
One of the woman's friends, Midshipman Elizabeth Burnett, testified Thursday that Owens implied he did not rape her when Burnett and another of the woman's friends confronted Owens later on Jan. 29.
"He said, 'You know, I think we were both pretty drunk. I think things just escalated,'" Burnett recalled.
Burnett said she told Owens that the alleged victim didn't describe the incident in such innocuous terms, and asked whether the sex had been consensual.
"We asked if she gave him signs that this is what she wanted and he said, 'No, not at all,'" Burnett testified.
Wrobel said after the hearing that he believes Owens will be cleared of the charges, but wouldn't comment further since the case is ongoing. The investigating officer, Cmdr. Jeffrey Fischer, will make a recommendation to Naval Academy Superintendent Admiral Rodney Rempt, who will decide whether Owens will face a court martial on the charges.
The military academies have faced closed scrutiny recently for alleged incidents of sexual harassment and abuse. A Pentagon report released last summer found those problems persist at the Naval Academy even as the school works to eliminate them.
Burnett said the woman faced intense pressure over whether to report Owens to criminal investigators. Not only was he the football team quarterback, but women are reluctant to report abuse because they fear it reinforces stereotypes about women at the academy, Burnett said.
"Any girl who turns in any guy at our school is going to get crucified," Burnett said.
After Navy investigators began probing the alleged rape, Owens was given the military version of a restraining order on Feb. 9 that instructed him to stay away from the woman. But six days later, the officer who oversaw his unit at the academy saw Owens walk down the woman's hall while she was in her dorm room, even though he had been told to stay off the floor, referred to as a "deck."
"As soon as I saw him, I couldn't believe he was on the deck," Lt. Ryan Frommelt said.
The pornography charge stems from the more than 700 pornographic images that investigators allegedly found on Owens' computer while investigating the rape.
This is idiotic! The women cleary was too drunk to know if she gave consent or not.
If her account is true, he began having intercourse with her while she was unconscious (and he was, obviously, not).
I'd call that, no consent.
Mrs VS
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