US Naval Academy Case – Coverage Compilation
Three football players at the US Naval Academy accused of sexual assault may face charges soon. Attorney Susan Burke, with whom Protect Our Defenders partners, represents the victim and advances lawsuits that address the epidemic of unpunished sexual violence within the military. Here’s a roundup of the press coverage:
In a new development in an alleged sexual assault case at the U.S. Naval Academy, a Navy official tells CNN that the school’s Superintendent, Vice Admiral Michael Miller, has ordered an Article 32 proceeding. Evidence will be presented at a hearing to a military legal officer who will determine if a court-martial is warranted.
WJLA-ABC 7 (Washington, D.C.):
Over a year has passed, and the female Naval Academy student who has accused three Navy football players of raping her is speaking out.
The student recently sat down with WJZ-TV in Baltimore for an exclusive interview, more than a year after the April 2012 incident where she says she was assaulted.
“I was drinking. I drank a lot,” the victim told WJZ. “I don’t really remember what happened. I woke up the next morning with bruises.”
The names of the accused have not been released, but details of what led to their charges certainly has people in Annapolis talking.
“Hearing something like this is a little different because you don’t ever hear anything about the whole military service,” said Annapolis resident Luke Swann.
At Middleton’s Restaurant, a popular hangout for midshipmen, some say the allegations are disturbing but not surprising.
“It’s still a college campus. Unfortunately bad things happen sometimes,” said Ted Goebels, an Annapolis resident.
WUSA-CBS 9 (Washington, D.C.):
Monday’s announcement came the same day the victim spoke out in an exclusive CBS interview. She admits to drinking heavily even blacking out the night of an off campus party in April 2012. But she says she awoke to bruises on her body and a buzz on social media. She tells CBS News her fellow midshipmen were talking about the alleged gang rape on facebook and twitter. She says one of the 3 football players, whom she knows, tweeted she was easy and did not put up a fight. She says he even bragged to her face.
She visited a doctor the next day but refused a rape kit, now saying she was in denial. She officially made her report 8 months later after confiding in her mother over Christmas break.
Naval Academy spokesman John Schofield told NBC News and the Washington Post on Monday that a Naval Criminal Investigative Service probe was complete and that charges will be filed.
Although the significant delay in charges being filed comes amid high-profile military sexual assaults and calls for taking sexual misconduct cases out of the armed forces’ hands, it appears that the alleged victim caused the delay.
Investigators initially looked into the woman’s complaint, sources told NBC News in June, but she decided not to pursue the allegations four months after reporting the incident. In February 2013 – ten months after the alleged rapes – she renewed her complaint.
A Naval Academy superintendent has reviewed a report about the alleged rape of a female midshipman by three football players and determined the case should proceed.
An academy spokesman told NBC News that Vice Adm. Michael H. Miller “‘has decided to send this case to Article 32 proceedings,’ the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing.”
The charges follow a Navy Criminal Investigative Service probe that began more than a year ago. The length of the investigation drew criticism from Susan Burke, the victim’s lawyer, who accused Miller of foot-dragging.
“We are pleased at moving forward after this long delay,” Burke said.
The assault allegedly occurred in April 2012 at a house in Annapolis, Burke said. The woman woke up after a night of heavy drinking and later learned from friends and social media that three football players claimed to have had sex with her while she was intoxicated, Burke’s statement said.
Burke said her client reported the allegations to Navy criminal investigators. The athletes were permitted to continue playing football pending the outcome of the investigation.
Sources confirmed to The Capital that the woman’s initial report came around 14 months ago. But at some point, the initial investigation was closed. It was reopened this year.
The woman says the assault took place at an off-campus house in Annapolis last year. The woman’s attorney, Susan Burke, said late last month that her client woke up with bruises after a night of heavy drinking and later learned from friends and social media that three football players – whom she considered friends – were claiming to have had sex with her while she was blacked out. Burke did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Monday.
“She learned from friends and social media that three football players were claiming to have had sexual intercourse with her while she was incapacitated,” Burke said in a statement.
Schofield declined to speak about details of the case.
“It is completely inappropriate to make public comment on this investigation or any ongoing investigation as we risk compromising the military justice process,” he said
The allegations out of the nation’s premier training ground for Navy and Marine Corps officers were made public last month amid rising concern over sexual assaults within the military. President Barack Obama raised the issue during his commencement address at the academy last month, saying the assaults undermine the military’s strength and must be stopped
Vice Adm. Michael Miller, superintendent of the Naval Academy, has reviewed the investigation and referred the case to an Article 32 hearing, but charges have not yet been brought against the alleged offenders, said Cmdr. John Schofield, an academy spokesman. As a result, specific charges and the names of the players have not been released.
A recent Pentagon survey found that 26,000 assaults took place in the military last year, and one of the most high-profile accusations has only recently come to light: the current investigation of three Naval Academy students who stand accused of raping a fellow classmate.
“CBS This Morning” special correspondent Jeff Glor spoke with the female student involved.
Glor reported, the female student — a Navy midshipman — is only 20 years old and is still in school. The incident happened last spring and she admits she had been drinking heavily, and doesn’t remember much — but says that doesn’t change the facts. Three of her classmates, three football players, have been accused of rape.
The three players remained with the team, and the alleged victim took on the services of a lawyer, who was surprised the case was closed given the evidence collected. The lawyer, Susan Burke, noted there was “substantial evidence, including an admission from one player and social media postings memorializing what had occurred.”
Read further coverage:
New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/
NBC Sports:
http://collegefootballtalk.
ESPN:
http://espn.go.com/college-
CNN:
http://security.blogs.cnn.com/
Military.com:
http://www.military.com/daily-
Sporting News:
http://www.sportingnews.com/
Yahoo! Sports:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/
