We’ve seen our share of sordid behavior by high profile college athletes over the years. God have we. But that behavior had yet to be observed, at least in public, at the service academies. Until now.
(Did Army football make horses a$$ out of military justice system?)
The RECORD ONLINE reports today on the sad tale of Army sophomore linebacker Adam McMurray. The 19-year-old Michigan native, who lettered as a freshman but did not play last season, pleaded guilty this week to a drunken rampage through the West Point barracks last fall.
A rampage that included, “three counts of assault, three counts of wrongful sexual conduct, one count of burglary and one count of drunk and disorderly conduct. The charges carry a maximum punishment of dismissal from the Army, 15 years in prison and total forfeiture of pay and allowances.”
McMurray pleaded guilty to it all on Monday in front of a military judge. With the admitted acts in mind, and the penalties that could go along with it, you would think McMurray would be facing a pretty significant punishment.
And you would be wrong.
McMurray was only sentenced to a “reprimand and forfeiture of $1,500 pay” by the judge, which is pretty damn amazing considering the “two days of graphic testimony involving several cadets.”
From the RecordOnline.com:
In front of a rotating audience of cadets, the court rehashed the early morning hours of Sept. 13, when an inebriated McMurray was accused of gallivanting through the barracks and twice entering a room belonging to three female cadets. McMurray was found in their locked room by a group of male cadets who’d been looking for him.
The women testified about their encounters with McMurray, a linebacker on the football team. They said he’d come into their room uninvited and made forceful advances on their beds, including kissing and groping their breasts and vaginas.
Male and female cadets at the U.S. Military Academy are not allowed to have sex in the barracks, to be in a room with the door closed or to occupy the “same horizontal surface,” such as a bed.
The incidents in question occurred on a weekend, roughly between 12:30 and 2:30 a.m. McMurray said he drank six rum-and-Cokes and four beers that night and didn’t remember anything.
Preceding McMurray’s guilty plea, Defense attorney Capt. Jaclyn Jahnke claimed the women exaggerated the charges against the Army linebacker because “They did not want to be known as the girls caught with a male cadet in their room.”
So McMurrary’s female counsel charged the female cadets with overblowing (sorry) the encounter to save their own skin? Damn.
Perhaps that line of defense mitigated the sentence given McMurray. But based on the charges and guilty plea, a “reprimand” and small fine is getting off very light.
If McMurray hadn’t been a football player at West Point, do you think he’d have gotten the same punishment? Sounds like the service academies may allow the same preferential treatment afforded players who attend the college football factories.
7:00 pm on February 11th, 2009
If he played at Nebraska, they would have thrown a party for him:
http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/party-honoring-arrested-fbers-miffs-nebraska-22158
7:03 pm on February 11th, 2009
Male and female cadets at the U.S. Military Academy are not allowed to have sex in the barracks, to be in a room with the door closed or to occupy the “same horizontal surface,” such as a bed.
Preceding McMurray’s guilty plea, Defense attorney Capt. Jaclyn Jahnke claimed the women exaggerated the charges against the Army linebacker because “They did not want to be known as the girls caught with a male cadet in their room.”
So then it's the assault victims' fault?
7:04 pm on February 11th, 2009
Good thing Army has its stellar football record to fall back on.
Oh, wait.
7:16 pm on February 11th, 2009
Don't worry - he'll be shipped off to Iraq soon enough.
7:23 pm on February 11th, 2009
what's the odds this comment thread gets ugly once the military goons start weighing in?
7:29 pm on February 11th, 2009
If he gets drummed out of Today's Army he'll always have a job with Blackwater.
FWIW, RecordOnline.com is the URL for the Times Herald-Record in upstate New York.
8:39 pm on February 11th, 2009
Adam was just working on his invasion techniques.
10:53 pm on February 11th, 2009
So if you call the new president the n-word, you get tossed off a top-5 team and lose your scholarship. But if you forcefully fondle multiple vaginas and breasts, you get a small fine and a "shame on you" at a perennial loser. Point for Mack Brown.
9:29 am on February 12th, 2009
"Breasts and vaginas?" Those are three of my favorite things!
11:50 pm on February 12th, 2009
Give the kid a break. He's proudly serving our country, unlike a lot of you.
3:48 pm on February 13th, 2009
Greta, that is sad you have such misconceptions of today's Soldiers. Us weighing in does not mean that things have to get ugly. What he did was incorrigible but his general discharge will also severely limit his potential in meaningful jobs. At least he was brave enough to give the military a shot even if his moral compass was too misaligned for successful service.
It is your preconceived notions that further the civil/military rift in our society. What have you done to earn your citizenship… just pay taxes? Try something more meaningful.
9:46 pm on February 19th, 2009
Please don't think that McMurray is anything remotely close to a representation of most of the rest of us. Please.
8:45 am on February 21st, 2009
This article is wrong! CDT McMurray did NOT plead guilty to groping breasts and vaginas! He plead guilty only to drunk and disorderly. He was found NOT GUILTY of the remaining charges. Also the recordonline article fails to mention that all three female cadets' stories changed significantly several times and their stories didn't match the security camera footage that the FEMALE defense attorney admitted into evidence. Oh! And there was also testimony that McMurray was found ASLEEP in the girls' room! Three female West Point cadets with significant hand-to-hand combat training and all members of various sports teams couldn't get one drunk guy out of their room?! And they are going to be leading our Soldiers in combat zones?! Doesn't seem McMurray is the one who needs to leave the Academy…