Midshipman

WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court has upheld the Naval Academy's removal of a top-ranked midshipman who had acknowledged his homosexuality.Lawyers for the former midshipman, Joseph C. Steffan, said later that they had not decided whether to appeal yesterday's 7-to-3 decision, issued by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Any such appeal, to the Supreme Court, would provide the justices their first opportunity to consider the issue of homosexuals' service in the military.

A former Naval Academy midshipman was sentenced to six months in military prison and dismissed from the Navy on Thursday after he was convicted of raping a female classmate. Midshipman 3rd Class Patrick Edmond, 20, was found guilty of raping the female midshipman in her dorm room last October and of lying to military officials. The native of Jackson, Miss., was dismissed from the academy after a seven-member military panel handed down its verdict. He was attending classes at the academy until the conviction.

Naval investigators are looking for a freshman midshipman who was last seen at the U.S. Naval Academy during lunch Thursday, authorities said.Midshipman 4th Class Trent Arsenault of St. Louis was reported missing after he failed to appear for the routine evening bed check Thursday. The 19-year-old student was last seen about noon that day. He did not attend his afternoon classes on Thursday.The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has sent a missing-persons alert to police in other states and has told the midshipman's family about his disappearance.

The state's second-highest court set aside a jury award of $759,500 yesterday and ordered a new trial to resolve a dispute over a 1993 traffic accident in which a bicycle ridden by a Naval Academy midshipman preparing for a triathlon and a truck collided.The Court of Special Appeals found fault with several decisions by Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Lawrence H. Rushworth, who presided over the trial in which Midshipman First Class Frederick W. Piquette had sought damages.The appeals court said Rushworth incorrectly allowed the jury to consider Piquette's request to recover medical expenses since the federal government, which paid for his care, had settled with the insurer for driver Seth H. Stevens.

A Naval Academy midshipman was sentenced to 15 months of confinement Tuesday for theft and conduct unbecoming an officer. Julia Kaelberer, 23, a fourth-year Mid from Rialto, Calif., admitted stealing a class ring sample from a display in October 2007. Her thefts culminated in what her lawyers described as a stealing spree Dec. 6, when most of her classmates were in Philadelphia for the Army-Navy football game. The stolen items included a BlackBerry, video game consoles, a class ring and a "Go Navy, Beat Army" quilt.

At a memorial service in his honor yesterday, the Naval Academy came together to create a cautionary tale out of the suicide of Midshipman Gil W. Greene."

A midshipman at the Naval Academy has filed a lawsuit accusing a female classmate of assaulting him on the grounds of the Annapolis military college. Midshipman William B. Campbell filed the suit Thursday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. It alleges that midshipman Ariana Downs, a former varsity soccer player, punched, hit and struck him during an unprovoked attack on Sept. 25. Campbell is seeking at least $20,000 in damages from Downs, of Auburn, Wash., for what he claims is continued "mental and emotional shock and distress."

An Annapolis man is charged with trying to rob a midshipman at knifepoint outside a West Street tavern.Charles D. Cook Jr., 25, of Pindell Avenue, was arrested shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday at City Dock, about an hour after a midshipman reported he'd been held up in theparking lot of the Ram's Head Tavern.The 22-year-old midshipman told police he was confronted by a manwielding a kitchen knife in the parking lot. The robber said, "This is a holdup, give me your wallet," and the midshipman handed over hisempty wallet.

Friends and officers at the Naval Academy said goodbye yesterday to Jeffrey Bryan Landrum, a midshipman from Lynchburg, Va., who was killed in a motorcycle accident Nov. 29 while he was home for Thanksgiving break.Hundreds of midshipmen attended a memorial service at the Naval Academy Chapel for Landrum, 20, who had aspired to join the Marine Corps after graduating from Annapolis. A junior, or second classman, Landrum's "shipmates" recalled how their funny, spontaneous and slightly crazy and fearless friend with the infectious smile had changed their lives for the better.

A Naval Academy midshipman charged with possessing a homemade bomb on Assateague Island is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate next month in Salisbury, federal authorities said. The midshipman, Freeman E.B. Tidaback, 20, drove with classmates Brian W. Ackerson, 19, and Alexander J. Eli Powell, 20, to the Eastern Shore island Saturday, where they built a large campfire on the beach. When park rangers approached the group, they found alcohol and a plastic container filled with gasoline and an electrical "ignition system," law enforcement officials said.