Annapolis City Council passes resolution backing midshipman

Annapolis (Map, News) - Former Naval Academy Midshipman Lamar Owens should be allowed to receive his degree, despite being convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer, the Annapolis City Council says.

The City Council narrowly passed a resolution Monday night, by a 5-4 vote, that supported Owens in his bid to receive his degree after he was acquitted in July on charges of raping a female midshipman.

Though he recently told The Examiner he felt the City Council had “no business” telling the U.S. Naval Academy what to do, Alderman Ross Arnett, D-Ward 8, cast the final vote in favor of the resolution.

“What changed my mind was the amendment Alderwoman Finlayson put forward regarding [Owens’] commission,” Arnett said.

Alderwoman Sheila Finlayson, D-Ward 4, proposed an amendment prior to the vote that would strike from the resolution that the city not only supported Owens receiving his degree, but also his Naval commission.

“The commission is a Navy issue,” she said Tuesday. “They decide who they want and who they don’t want. But the Naval Academy is also a college, and … Lamar Owens has earned his degree.”

“I’m not sure however we vote will make a difference to the Navy,” Arnett said after the meeting Monday. “Still, I think it would be a shame for [Owens] to put in all of that time, and not get a degree.”

Given her experience as a teacher, Finlayson voted for the resolution because “a student should not be denied the right to be a contributing member of society.”

Aldermen Richard Israel, D-Ward 1, Michael Christman, R-Ward 2, David Cordle, R-Ward 5, and Alderwoman Julie Stankivic, U-Ward 6, voted against the measure.

“I think we really misstepped last night,” said Christman, a graduate of the Naval Academy, class of 1985. “Some of the comments made show a fundamental lack of understanding … of the military justice process. I’m disappointed.”

“We had to get it done, and I am ecstatic,” said Alderwoman Classie Hoyle, D-Ward 3. Hoyle sponsored the resolution based on the fact, she said, that it would promote the City Council’s stance that all Annapolis residents receive an education.

“I was not asking the city to make a decision for the government. I was speaking to how important it was to get an education,” she said.

Hoyle said if the resolution has no direct impact on the Owens case, “it will at least raise awareness.”

Mayor Ellen Moyer, D, and Alderman Samuel Shropshire, D-Ward 7, also voted for the resolution.

Monday night’s discussion touched on how the female midshipman involved in the case was also found guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer for her role in the incident, but yet is being allowed to graduate with her Naval commission. Owens’ case is still awaiting a decision by the Secretary of the Navy, according to a Naval Academy spokeswoman.

“It would be inappropriate for the Naval Academy to comment on the business of the Annapolis City Council,” said Judy Campbell, of the Academy Public Affairs Office.

mplum@baltimoreexaminer.com