Rape Suspect to Face Court-Martial

In a Separate Incident, Another Athlete Also to Stand Trial

Quarterback Lamar S. Owens Jr. is charged in a January incident. (Paul W. Gillespie - AP)

Lamar S. Owens Jr., last season's starting quarterback for the U.S. Naval Academy, will face a court-martial on rape and other charges, Navy officials said yesterday.

A second football player will also face a court-martial on charges of indecent assault and other offenses in connection with a separate incident, the academy said.

The simultaneous announcements appear to represent a hard-line shift at the academy, which rarely takes sexual assault cases to military court and seldom releases allegations publicly. Until yesterday, only one midshipman out of 56 who have been accused of sexual assault since 1998 has faced a court-martial. Another was convicted of rape in a civilian court.

Owens, a 22-year-old senior from Savannah, Ga., faces allegations of rape and conduct unbecoming an officer and two counts of indecent assault. After a preliminary hearing last month, academy superintendent Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt also added two charges of committing an indecent act by having intercourse in the presence of another midshipman, the sleeping roommate of Owens's accuser, and for violating a military protective order requiring him to stay at least 100 feet away from his accuser.

The charges stem from a Jan. 29 incident in which Owens is suspected of entering his accuser's dorm room and raping her. The case has brought another round of unwanted attention to the Annapolis campus, which has been repeatedly hit with sexual assault and harassment scandals since it began accepting women in 1976. It has also underscored issues of alcohol abuse at the 160-year-old school. Both Owens and his 20-year-old accuser were intoxicated at the time of the incident, according to witness testimony at last month's hearing.

Rempt ordered Owens to face trial by general court-martial, reserved for the most serious crimes in the military. If found guilty, he could face several years in prison and a dishonorable discharge from the military. A trial date has not been set. Owens's civilian attorney did not return phone calls yesterday.

Owens and his accuser, a junior, remain in school.

The academy also announced charges yesterday against a second football player. The academy did not release the suspect's name, but several civilian and Navy officials confirmed that he is Kenny Ray Morrison, 23, of Kingwood, Tex.

Morrison, a senior linebacker who had little playing time, faces charges of indecent assault, indecent acts and conduct unbecoming an officer in connection with a Feb. 4 incident at the Embassy Suites hotel in the District. According to charging documents, the suspect carried a drunken midshipman from the bed where she was sleeping to another bed and removed her clothing "with the intent to engage in sexual intercourse with her, by taking advantage of her partial incapacitation resulting from the consumption of alcohol."

The documents also say that the suspect lifted the blankets and let another midshipman in the room see the woman's body, then exposed himself to classmates and civilians in an adjoining room.

Rempt ordered Morrison to face a special court-martial, which is typically reserved for lesser crimes and has a maximum punishment of 12 months' confinement. A special court-martial can also be ordered without an Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury, to determine whether there is probable cause to charge the suspect.

Morrison's attorney, William Ferris, declined to comment yesterday because, he said, charging documents had not been delivered to him.