Lamar Owens Affair

“Nothing is to be preferred before justice.”
-Socrates

            In these trying times of loneliness, Lamar Owens yearns to identify himself with other persons of prevalent perseverance.  Recent research yielded the name of Alfred Dreyfus.  Upon examining the Dreyfus Affair, Owens became intrigued by Dreyfus’s mutual struggle of national humility due to the military’s accusations of a horrible crime.  Applying the Dreyfus affair to his own situation, Owens realized he was the main character in a more modern version of the affair on American soil nearly 115 years later.

            The Dreyfus Affair was one of the principal scandals in the history of France.  In 1894, Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in a French army, was accused of being a spy along with other transgressions against France.  People thought he wrote letters to the Germans revealing complex secrets of the French army.  His chastisement was to be hauled to a prison island in South America for the rest of his life.

When he was in prison, Dreyfus’s supporters continued to investigate for the truth to prove his innocence.  After a great deal of exploration, they proved that another soldier, Major Esterhazy, was in fact guilty.  The French army realized the truth of the new evidence, but due to the publicity of the case did not want to openly admit that it had been wrong.  In turn, the French army refused to free him.  Finally, the evidence that Dreyfus was innocent became so strong that the government had to demand a new trial.  However at the new hearing, the army again found him guilty.  Auspiciously, the President of France, who became exasperated watching an innocent man suffer, pardoned and released Dreyfus in 1899.  Seven years later, he was officially declared innocent by the French army and allowed back into the army.        

At this time, the French affair created divisions over the guilt or innocence of Dreyfus within its’ borders.  Many of those who thought Dreyfus was a spy were anti-Semites and believed his guilt coincided with the fact he was a Jew.  These irrational radicals assumed that a Jew could not be a good Frenchman.  Other dissenters of Dreyfus’ innocence believed that the army could not be questioned due to its reputation of esteem and integrity.  Dreyfus’s supporters strongly opposed the notion of imprisoning an innocent man.  These pro-Dreyfus citizens feared that Dreyfus's foes were also adversaries of the republic.

The Owens affair takes place in Annapolis, MD, USA.  Annapolis is the capital of MD and the home to the USNA, a prominent military academy.  Owens is a midshipman commencing his last year of studies at the academy and in 2005 served as the starting quarterback on the academy’s football team.  Owens was loved my many and hated by few at this point.  Owens’s reputation at the academy was largely due to his visible position on the sports team.  He was the toast of Annapolis after being named Army-Navy MVP and leading the tam to a Poinsettia Bowl win.  Early in January, Owens attended an Army-Navy football captain’s luncheon at the Pentagon with the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Gordon England, and former Army Secretary, Francis Harvey, where he expressed his eagerness to join the naval ranks with the higher-ups.  After the season ended, Owens returned to living the life of an average midshipman.  One month after leading the football team to a 51-30 drubbing of Colorado State, he was accused by a female of midshipmen of robbing her most precious gift. 

Within a few short weeks, Owens’s respectable name and reputation went out the window and landed squarely on the front page of newspapers and the screens of personal computers across the nation as the public learned of the academy’s on-going investigation.   The New York Times printed an article with the headline stating, “Navy Star ‘Rapist’.”  Owens’s name was sandwiched in between accusations of pilfering sex and lewd conduct on academy grounds.  To the naive reader, it appeared that there was ample evidence that supported the severe charge levied against Owens and it was a “slam dunk” case.  In fact, some of Owens’ friends from Georgia believed he had been in jail at the time they read the media reports.  However, the only time Owens has ever stepped foot in a jail cell was when the Navy football team visited Alcatraz on a trip to San Francisco.  To say that the initial media blurbs concerning Owens and his misconduct insinuated guilt would be a severe understatement.  The initial articles literally handcuffed the minds of potential jurors from forming their own opinions of the case due to a feeble investigation followed by a robust attempt to win a trial by public relations.

Nine months after the culmination of the General Courts Martial in July, Owens has been officially discharged from the military service.  Some critics claim that the Navy’s punishment is excessive, while others believe that the Navy has a reputation to uphold and could not allow a violator of this magnitude into the armed service.  Owens now has two felonies on his personal record for life.  At trial Owens was convicted for having consensual sex in a dorm room and for violating a protective order by walking down a corridor that was off limits.  Both acts are considered felonies since they were charged at the military’s highest court, General Courts Martial.  The jury then granted “no punishment” at the sentencing phase. 

Who knew on July 20, 2006 -other than Rodney Rempt- that “no punishment” carries such a heavy burden?  Not only was Owens dismissed from the naval service, he is required to pay back $91, 000 for an education he completed, but will not receive the degree.  It seems that similar to the Dreyfus affair, the military had the means to make the right decision.  Yet, there was an enormous amount of public attention to this case, which caused the military to choose the option that would make them appear in the best light.

In any case, the Lamar Owens affair is far from over.  His supporters are restless and desire justice.  Lamar has long ago realized that the Lamar Owens affair has very little to do with Lamar, but more to do with justice and the right that American citizens have to that justice.  Lamar Owens prays that no one ever has to experience the hardship, stress, misguided interests, and lies that he has had to withstand for the past fifteen months.