Appeals court revives rape case against acquitted midshipman

Maryland’s second-highest court ruled Wednesday that a sexual assault case against a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman could be revived, over a year after a jury acquitted the now-22-year-old.

The three-judge panel agreed that an Anne Arundel County Circuit judge “acted without authority” when he dismissed two charges against Garrett Lee Holsen, a Wisconsin native who was accused of sexually assaulting a fellow midshipman during an off-campus party.

The opinion, written by Appellate Court of Maryland Judge Douglas Nazarian, stopped short of making a firm decision on whether Holsen can be tried again on those charges, instead sending the case back to Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. There, Holsen’s defense team can raise issues like double jeopardy, according to Megan Coleman, who represented Holsen during a rare appeal by prosecutors.

If that fails, Holsen could ultimately be tried again — but only on the third-degree sex offense and second-degree assault charges that Anne Arundel Circuit Judge

Robert Thompson instructed the jury not to consider if they found Holsen not guilty of a second-degree rape charge.

The jury did exactly that in September 2022 after several witnesses testified that Holsen had intercourse with a heavily intoxicated midshipman during an off-campus party the previous year following the Herndon Monument Climb, while his defense attorney, Peter O’Neill, argued the encounter was consensual, calling character witnesses to testify about Holsen’s respect toward women and challenging the integrity of his accuser.

The Maryland Attorney General’s office, which represented local prosecutors in the appeal, declined to comment on the matter, citing that the litigation was still ongoing.

“We’re not sure yet what our next steps are,” Coleman said, describing Holsen as a “wonderful, upstanding young man.” The Wednesday decision could be reconsidered by the appellate court, or lawyers could try to get the Maryland Supreme Court to the case. Barring those options succeeding, the case would go back to circuit court, where