Grads seek pardons for court-martialed ex-Mids - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Grads seek pardons for court-martialed ex-Mids

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A group of Naval Academy graduates is seeking presidential pardons for two former Navy football players court-martialed on unrelated sexual assault charges.

Peter Optekar of Idaho, a 1963 graduate, has organized a group of graduates who believe that former quarterback Lamar Owens and reserve linebacker Kenneth Ray Morrison did not get fair trials.

Jerome Mullins, an attorney who specializes in sentence mitigation and pardons, says the ex-midshipmen will have a tough fight.

Owens and Morrison have maintained that they were falsely accused.

Owens was convicted of violating an order and engaging in conduct unbecoming an officer in 2006. Morrison was convicted in 2007 of indecent assault and conduct unbecoming an officer and was sentenced to two years in prison.

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