The judge whose jury instructions in a Naval Academy midshipman’s 2022 rape trial were successfully challenged will preside over a retrial on a remaining assault charge.
Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Robert Thompson ruled Thursday that he takes “a completely dispassionate view” of the accusations against Garrett Lee Holsen, who now faces a misdemeanor assault charge after being acquitted of rape. Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess argued Thompson should remove himself from the case.
The retrial is scheduled to start Aug. 29.
Holsen, a 22-year-old from Wisconsin, was acquitted of raping one of his classmates at an off-campus party after the 2021 Herndon Monument Climb. County prosecutors alleged the midshipman had sex with a woman when she was too intoxicated to consent — a theory the jury ultimately rejected.
Before deliberations began in the six-day trial, however, Thompson instructed jurors not to consider the second-degree assault and third-degree sex offense charges in the case if they decided Holsen was not guilty of rape. Soon after the trial ended, prosecutors took the rare step of appealing.
In December, the Appellate Court of Maryland found the judge had “acted without authority” and ordered a retrial on the two charges that were not considered by the jury. Months later, prosecutors took the sex offense off the table due to double jeopardy, which bars the state from recharging a defendant with…
