<p>
[quote]
Well, it's nice to know some things never change....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I concur with Zaphod. Ditto...</p>
<p>In response to the [url=<a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2006/10_01-47/NAV%5Darticle%5B/url">http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2006/10_01-47/NAV]article[/url</a>] mentioned in post #19.</p>
<p>The Capital (Annapolis, MD) 100806 (C10-10)
Copyright 2006 Capital Gazette Communications, Inc.</p>
<p>All Rights Reserved</p>
<p>The Capital (Annapolis, MD)</p>
<p>October 8, 2006 Sunday</p>
<p>*Article Edited To Include USNA News Only </p>
<p>LETTERS TO THE EDITOR</p>
<p>SECTION: RECORD; Pg. A12</p>
<p>LENGTH: 1670 words</p>
<p>Sexual abuse</p>
<p>Midshipman 1st Class Lamar Owens had sex with a woman who was unconscious. This is rape, pure and simple.</p>
<p>Was she guilty of drinking against academy rules? Did she initially invite Midshipman Owens to have sex with her? While we were not there and cannot rule this out, the moment she lost consciousness was the moment sexual contact should have been terminated.</p>
<p>That he, a football star, was cleared by a military court is no surprise. As a rule, the issue of abuse is not fully appreciated in this male-dominated culture and especially not within the military.</p>
<p>And, unfortunately, many women also fail to fully understand the biases all around us. There have been improvements in the last 30 years, but we have miles to go. </p>
<p>I suppose all this would have faded from memory had not the case of Midshipman 1st Class Kenny Ray Morrison come to light.</p>
<p>A pattern of abuse, whether verbal or physical, prevails at the academy in particular and in the military in general. Add to that the matter of special treatment for sports heroes, in itself worthy of a book, and you have the perfect storm.</p>
<p>I hope for a future when we will no longer see these abuses and when women and men are truly equals.</p>
<p>SELMA GOLDBERG</p>
<p>Crofton</p>
<p>Navy football</p>
<p>Based on anecdotal evidence and unnamed sources, a Sunday Capital story (Oct. 1) depicted a Navy football team that might have to be added to the superintendent's list of 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week concerns.</p>
<p>The story had to dig so deep to portray this as to quote from a 1994 internal Defense Department memo, a notoriously anti-football English professor, and a sexual assault coalition director who didn't even know the details of the case the article was based on. This painted a false picture of Navy football.</p>
<p>Despite this depiction, the relationship between the brigade and the football team is strong. Besides the many overnights generated for the brigade after wins, 1,300 midshipmen are traveling to Colorado to support the team.</p>
<p>Citing unnamed midshipmen who are disappointed the football team gets "special" treatment failed to show the give and take. The summer leave spent practicing, the 6 a.m. workouts in March, the loss of a Thanksgiving break, and a shortened Christmas break ensure that the academy is represented admirably on game day.</p>
<p>The story failed to mention that the Navy football team is No. 1 in the country in graduation rate and No. 1 in the Division 1 NCAA academic progress ratings.</p>
<p>Second Lt. Brian Stann (Class of '03) won the Silver Star in Iraq. First Lt. Ron Winchester (Class of '01), 2nd Lt. J.P. Blecksmith (Class of '03) and Lt. Cmdr. Scott Zellem (Class of '91) gave their lives in the war on terror. All were football players.</p>
<p>Anecdotal evidence should not diminish the increased pride, revenue, school exposure, and veneration from peers that Navy football has garnered recently. Pre-trial allegations involving one sexual-assault case should not diminish this.</p>
<p>EVAN BEARD</p>
<p>Annapolis</p>
<p>EDITOR'S NOTE: The writer, Class of 2006, was a member of the Naval Academy football team.</p>
<p>Published in today's Anne Arundel Extra to the Washington Compost:</p>
<p>Copyright 2006 The Washington Post</p>
<p>BYLINE: Raymond McCaffrey, Washington Post Staff Writer</p>
<p>A Nov. 2 hearing has been scheduled at the Washington Navy Yard for a former U.S. Naval Academy football player charged with raping two female midshipmen on separate occasions after allegedly giving them drugs. </p>
<p>The hearing will be presided over by a Navy judge advocate general who will make a recommendation to Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, the academy's superintendent, about whether there are grounds for charges of rape against midshipman Kenny Ray Morrison. </p>
<p>The Article 32 hearing -- originally scheduled for yesterday -- was postponed at the request of defense attorney William M. Ferris, who said he hadn't received pertinent evidence early enough.</p>
<p>Ferris said that he doesn't intend to present evidence at the hearing.</p>
<p>"Very seldom in my career have I presented evidence at an Article 32 hearing," he said.</p>
<p>Morrison was charged with rape last month on the day that a special court-martial was to begin after he had been charged with indecent assault and related offenses in a February incident at a Washington hotel. The lesser charges were dropped, and Morrison now faces a general court-martial. He also has been charged with raping another female midshipman in April in Annapolis, according to charging documents.</p>
<p>The documents said Morrison is accused of causing both women to "ingest unknowingly gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), a Schedule 1 controlled substance, a means likely to cause death or grievous bodily injury." </p>
<p>The Naval Academy said the initial charges of indecent assault were withdrawn because additional information affecting the case had surfaced. A military judge denied a prosecution request last month to introduce hair analysis to determine whether the victim in the February incident had ingested GHB. </p>
<p>The judge, Marine Lt. Col. Paul McConnell, said then that hair analysis would only cause further delay and ultimately might not be admissible in court because the testing is under scrutiny. </p>
<p>Morrison is the second academy football player charged with sexual misconduct this year. Lamar S. Owens Jr., Navy's starting quarterback, was cleared of rape but found guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer. </p>
<p>Morrison, who has completed his academy studies but not graduated, is now assigned to the Washington Navy Yard.</p>
<p>NOTE: The name in the last paragraph should be Owens NOT Morrison. Morrison is a senior who has not completed his studies. This is another case of a reporter who doesn't pay attention to detils.</p>
<p>The Capital (Annapolis, MD) 102106 (C10-24)
Copyright 2006 Capital Gazette Communications, Inc.</p>
<p>All Rights Reserved</p>
<p>The Capital (Annapolis, MD)</p>
<p>October 21, 2006 Saturday
*Article Edited To Include USNA News Only </p>
<p>LETTERS TO THE EDITOR</p>
<p>SECTION: RECORD; Pg. A8</p>
<p>LENGTH: 1322 words</p>
<p>NAVY FOOTBALL</p>
<p>I was dismayed at an article that disparaged the Navy football program (The Sunday Capital, Oct. 1).</p>
<p>The article used the alleged action of a midshipman who has not been tried by a court-martial and a 1994 report to condemn the current Navy football program. It implied, through the words of one faculty member, that the majority of the midshipmen have to attend home football games against their will.</p>
<p>The brigade has attended football games and supported its team since my days as a midshipman and for decades before. The academy's superintendent, Vice. Adm. Rod Rempt, has often stated that a winning football team has a very positive impact on the brigade's spirit and morale.</p>
<p>The story inferred that, at a recent meeting of the academy's Board of Visitors, Adm. Rempt stated for the first time that his major concerns were sexual abuse, cheating and alcohol. He has stated these concerns publicly for the past three years. They are the same concerns as those of previous academy superintendents, as well as of every university president in the country. </p>
<p>Athletic competition and physical fitness have been a vital part of the Navy's mission for over 150 years. They are considered an essential part of a midshipman's development toward becoming an officer.</p>
<p>Coach Paul Johnson has produced a remarkable turnaround in the Navy football program. His players are excellent representatives of the academy and the nation, wherever they play. Many of his former players are now serving in harm's way, and some of them have made the ultimate sacrifice.</p>
<p>Your newspaper owes the superintendent and the coach an apology.</p>
<p>I am a retired vice admiral and a member of the academy's Class of 1951.</p>
<p>E.A. BURKHALTER JR.</p>
<p>Annapolis</p>
<p>Ex-Navy football player accused of drugging, sexually assaulting 2 women</p>
<p>Published by the BS this afternoon:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Two women testified this morning in a military hearing that they were raped on separate occasions this year by former Navy football player Kenny Ray Morrison, whom prosecutors claim drugged the alleged victims before sexually assaulting them....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
Your newspaper owes the superintendent and the coach an apology.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Don't hold your breath, Admiral.</p>
<p>Hearing held to determine if evidence exists for court-martial</p>
<p>Published in today's BS:</p>
<p>Published in today's Los Angeles Times:</p>
<p>registered quests may only read the LA times article.</p>
<p>^^^^^^^^
WASHINGTON Two women testified in a military hearing Thursday that they were raped this year by former Navy football player Kenny Ray Morrison, who prosecutors allege drugged the women before sexually assaulting them. </p>
<p>Through his attorneys, Morrison has denied wrongdoing. </p>
<p>Speaking quietly, one alleged victim said she awoke in a Washington hotel room on Feb. 4 after a night of heavy drinking. </p>
<p>"I remember being woken up by Mr. Morrison standing over me and talking to me," the woman testified. "Basically he wanted to have sex with me. I told him that I did not want to." </p>
<p>Now a senior at the U.S. Naval Academy, the woman said she tried to resist him while he removed her clothes and raped her. She testified that Morrison sexually assaulted her two more times after that. </p>
<p>Another woman, who recently graduated from the academy, also testified at the Article 32 hearing, held to determine whether there is enough evidence to court-martial Morrison. She said she blacked out after drinking five beers at O'Brien's Oyster Bar and Restaurant in Annapolis, Md., on April 21, the last one provided by Morrison. </p>
<p>The next morning, the woman said, she woke up naked, next to Morrison, in an Annapolis house she didn't recognize. She testified that she didn't remember anything, but felt pain in her thighs and genital area. </p>
<p>Both women's hair tested positive for GHB, a date rape drug that is also used recreationally, Navy prosecutors said.</p>
<p>Alleged rape victims test negative for drug, contradicting earlier evidence</p>
<p>Published in the BS:</p>
<p>
[quote]
In a major break for a former Navy football player accused of rape, new test results show that neither of his two alleged victims was given a date-rape drug, his civilian attorney said yesterday.</p>
<p>The results of a second hair analysis, requested by military prosecutors, contradict previous evidence in the Naval Academy's case against Kenny Ray Morrison, 24, said William Ferris, his lawyer. Samples from the two women, who said they were attacked on separate occasions this year, tested negative for gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, a common date-rape drug....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The saga continues...</p>
<p>Published in the Navy Times:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Tests requested by military prosecutors found no evidence that two female Naval Academy midshipmen were drugged earlier this year by Midshipman 1st Class Kenny Ray Morrison, a laboratory director testified Wednesday at an Article 32 hearing at the Washington (D.C.) Navy Yard.</p>
<p>Traces of two drugs commonly used in date rapes were, however, found in a hair sample taken from one of the victims, now a Marine second lieutenant. But Pascal Kintz, an expert toxicologist from the ChemTox lab in Strasbourg, France, testified that those two substances which are also legally prescribed for anxiety and sleep disorders were ingested by the woman two to three months after Morrison was alleged to have raped her....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>No trace of GHB found in hair samples of 2 alleged victims, expert says</p>
<p>Published in the BS:</p>
<p>
[quote]
The director of a leading French laboratory said today there were no significant traces of a common date-rape drug in hair samples from two women who have accused a former Naval Academy football player of drugging and sexually assaulting them.</p>
<p>"We can say with huge accuracy that there was no exposure" to gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, a common date-rape drug, said Pascal Kintz, testifying by speakerphone in the military version of a grand jury hearing for Kenny Ray Morrison....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Hair analysis finds virtually no date-rape drug</p>
<p>Published in today's BS:</p>
<p>
[quote]
The lawyer for a former Navy football player accused in two rape cases asked military officials yesterday to drop the charges after expert testimony that there were no significant amounts of a date-rape drug in the hair of the two alleged victims. </p>
<p>"The government's own evidence destroys their case," defense attorney William M. Ferris argued at the close of the preliminary hearing for Kenny Ray Morrison, 24. Ferris noted that military prosecutors alleged that the sexual assaults were facilitated by the use of a date-rape drug, GHB....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Published in today's Washington Compost:</p>
<p>
[quote]
The attorney for a former Navy football player accused of drugging and raping two female midshipmen said yesterday that the U.S. Naval Academy superintendent should remove himself from the case as he did in a similar high-profile case.</p>
<p>William M. Ferris, the attorney for Midshipman Kenny Ray Morrison, said he planned to ask Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt to do what he did after allegations of pro-prosecution bias arose in the rape case of former Navy quarterback Lamar S. Owens Jr....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Morrison still faces lesser counts; Owens' rape acquittal upheld</p>
<p>Published in today's BS:</p>
<p>
[quote]
The Naval Academy has dropped rape charges against a former football player who was accused of drugging and raping two midshipmen, marking the second time in recent months that a high-profile sexual misconduct case brought by the Annapolis military college has come apart.</p>
<p>Kenny Ray Morrison, 24, will face a court-martial on four lesser offenses in connection with the two separate incidents after expert witnesses testified that the female midshipmen had not been given a date-rape drug, according to charging documents released yesterday....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Published in the Washington Compost:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Rape and drug charges have been dropped against a former Navy football player accused of assaulting two female midshipmen, but the Naval Academy said Thursday it will court-martial him on lesser counts.</p>
<p>Kenny Ray Morrison was accused of using a "date rape drug" to assault the women in separate incidents, but testimony from expert witnesses during pretrial hearings cast doubt on whether the women had been drugged....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>(Kenny Ray Morrison '06) Rape and drug charges have been dropped against a former Navy football player accused of assaulting two female midshipmen, but the U.S. Naval Academy said Thursday it will court-martial him on lesser counts. </p>
<p>Kenny Ray Morrison was accused of using a "date rape drug" to assault the women in separate incidents, but testimony from expert witnesses during pretrial hearings cast doubt on whether the women had been drugged.</p>
<p>Morrison, of Kingwood, Texas, is now charged with two counts of indecent assault and two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. He previously faced more serious charges of rape and distribution of the drug GHB.</p>
<p>Despite the lesser charges, academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Rodney Rempt decided that Morrison will face the most serious form of military hearing, a general court-martial. In a statement, the academy said Rempt made the decision "after careful consideration of all available evidence."</p>
<p>"These cases are always sad," Rempt said. "We have midshipmen who reported being assaulted and a mid-shipman accused of assault."
Morrison's lawyer, William Ferris, was not available for comment.</p>
<p>A former backup linebacker, Morrison, 24, was one of two Navy football players accused of rape last year.</p>
<p>Former star quarterback Lamar Owens Jr. was cleared by a military jury in July but found guilty of lesser charges. That decision was upheld Thursday by Vice Adm. Paul Sullivan, commander of the Naval Sea Systems Command, who reviewed the case.</p>
<p>Owens faces no criminal punishment, but will have a hearing at the academy to determine if he will be dis-missed and forced to repay the roughly $140,000 cost of his education. Owens was set to graduate last spring, but has not received his officer commission and is detailed to the Washington Navy Yard as he awaits a decision.</p>
<p>Morrison was first charged in the spring with indecent assault, indecent acts and conduct unbecoming an officer for allegedly having sex with a female midshipman against her wishes in the presence of other mid-shipman at a Washington hotel on Feb. 4, 2006.</p>
<p>The woman testified at an Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a civilian grand jury, that Morrison had sex with her three times. She was so groggy and weak that she couldn't resist him despite telling him repeatedly that she did not want to have sex.</p>
<p>In September, prosecutors charged him with two counts of rape, one for the Washington incident and an-other for a second incident in which Morrison was accused of having sex with another midshipman on April 21.</p>
<p>The woman said Morrison gave her a beer at an Annapolis bar near the academy. She awoke the next morn-ing in bed with Morrison, unable to remember anything and believing he had sex with her without her consent.</p>
<p>Navy prosecutors said the women's hair had traces of GHB, a drug that is sometimes used to facilitate rapes. But at a hearing in December, the director of a leading French laboratory said there were no significant traces of the drug in their hair.</p>
<p>No date has been set for the court-martial.</p>
<p>The Associated Press State & Local Wire
January 19, 2007</p>
<p>Former football player does not enter a plea; defense might ask that charges be dropped</p>
<p>Published in today's BS:</p>
<p>
[quote]
A former Naval Academy football player was arraigned yesterday on two counts each of indecent assault and conduct unbecoming an officer stemming from separate incidents in February and April last year.</p>
<p>In what his civilian attorney called "a legal technicality," Kenny Ray Morrison, 24, did not enter a plea on the four charges, leaving open the possibility that his defense team will ask for the charges to be dismissed....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>A military judge on Monday set an April court martial date for a former Naval Academy football player on charges alleging he sexually assaulted two female midshipmen. </p>
<p>Midshipman Kenny Ray Morrison, 24, did not enter a plea during an arraignment Monday on two counts of indecent assault and two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.</p>
<p>Defense lawyer William Ferris said not entering a plea allows Morrison to later file a motion to dismiss the charges. Ferris would not say if he planned to do so.</p>
<p>The judge, Marine Lt. Col. Paul McConnell, set the four-day general court-martial for April 2.</p>
<p>Morrison, a one-time back up linebacker on the academy's football team, was accused last year of using a "date rape" drug to sexually assault the two women, one at a Washington hotel and the other at an apartment near the academy campus in Annapolis, Md.</p>
<p>Both women testified at an Article 32 hearing, the military version of a grand jury proceeding, that they were groggy and believed Morrison had sex with them without their consent.</p>
<p>Navy prosecutors claimed Morrison used the drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, to incapacitate the women and then raped them. But at a hearing in December, the director of a leading laboratory said there were no significant traces of the drug in their hair.</p>
<p>Following that testimony, rape and drug counts were dropped.</p>
<p>Morrison is assigned to the Washington Navy Yard while awaiting the outcome of his case.</p>
<p>The Associated Press State & Local Wire
January 30, 2007</p>