The Naval Academy announced Wednesday that three Navy football players have been charged under military law with rape, sexual assault and lying to investigators, according to Military.com.
The charges against the football players stem from allegations of having sex with a female midshipman who was passed out from drinking last year.
The names of the three men accused have not been released.
"My client and I are cautiously optimistic that justice will finally prevail in this case," Susan Burke, the lawyer for the female midshipman, said in a statement to Military.com.
According to reports, the female midshipman told Naval Criminal Investigative Service that the three men sexually assaulted her in April 2012 at an off-campus location where they were attending a party. She allegedly dropped the original charges, but renewed them in February.
All four people involved were reportedly drinking heavily that night the alleged crimes occurred. According to Military.com, the midshipmen reportedly woke up with bruises on her arms and legs, and "learned later from friends and from Facebook and other social media postings that the three players were claiming to have had sex with her while she was blacked out."
One of the accused is a senior who was held from graduating earlier this month due to the pending charges, and the other two football players were juniors at the Naval Academy.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., reportedly urged Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in a letter on Wednesday to take action against the increasing rates of sexual assault in the military.
"We graduate thousands of cadets and midshipmen each year," Mikulski said. "The education of the midshipmen will shape the culture of the military for years to come. That is why I am concerned about the leadership that trains the leadership and am deeply troubled by the lackluster response from the Superintendents to increasing rates of sexual assault within their Academies."
