U.S. Navy sailor Ryan Sawyer Mays walks past reporters at Naval Base San Diego before entering the Navy courtroom, August 17, 2022, in San Diego.
Julie Watson / AP
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U.S. Navy sailor Ryan Sawyer Mays walks past reporters at Naval Base San Diego before entering the Navy courtroom, August 17, 2022, in San Diego.
Julie Watson / AP
SAN DIEGO – A military judge on Friday acquitted a sailor who burned the USS Bonhomme Richard.
Ryan Sawyer Mays, 21, exhaled deeply as the verdict was read, placing both hands on the defense table, sobbing and hugging supporters in the stands at Naval Base San Diego.
Outside the courtroom building, Mays read a brief statement to reporters and declined to answer questions. He did not deal with his plans.
“I can say that the last two years have been the hardest two years of my young life,” he said. “I’ve lost time with friends. I’ve lost friends. I’ve lost time with family, and my entire Navy career has been ruined. I look forward to starting over.”
Prosecutors produced no physical evidence during the nine-day trial that the sailor set fire to the ship, while the defense did not trust the key witness, Seaman Kenji Velasco. , who changed his account over time.
Gary Barthel, a former Marine judge who represented Mays at the preliminary hearing, said Velasco’s discredit was key. Barthel has said that the judge in the preliminary hearing recommended against the court order, but Deputy Adm Steve Koehler, a former commander of the San Diego-based US 3rd Fleet, has the final say.
The ship’s lower vehicle storage area “became a scrap yard and I believe that throughout the process the Navy attempted to clean up their mess by accusing Seaman Mays of allegations this,” Barthel told reporters.
Prosecutors did not comment after the ruling. Through its spokesman, Lt. Samuel R. Boyle, the Navy said it was “committed to upholding the principles of due process and a fair trial.”
Prosecutors said Mays was furious and revengeful when he failed to become a Navy SEAL and was assigned deck duties, prompting him to burn cardboard boxes on July 12, 2020 in the containment area. lower vehicle on board, docked in San Diego while $250 million in maintenance work is underway.
Fire crews spray water from the pier onto the side of the USS Bonhomme Richard, in San Diego, July 12, 2020.
Gregory Bull / AP
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Gregory Bull / AP
Fire crews spray water from the pier onto the side of the USS Bonhomme Richard, in San Diego, July 12, 2020.
Gregory Bull / AP
They said he wanted to drive home before texting his department officer that the ship was so cluttered with contractor materials it was “as dangerous as (outrage).”
The prosecutor, Captain Jason Jones, admitted in court to a Navy report last year that concluded that hell was preventable and unacceptable, and that there were training flaws. , coordination, communications, fire preparedness, equipment maintenance, and overall command and control. Failure to extinguish or contain the fire has resulted in temperatures exceeding 1,200 degrees Celsius in some areas, melting parts of the ship into molten metal that flows to other parts of the ship. Navy leadership disciplined more than 20 senior officers and sailors.
Jones told the judge that it was certain that the Navy “lost the ship” that morning, but that Mays was responsible for activating it.
“The punch from behind, that’s something the Navy can never stop,” he said.
Mays thought he was going to jump out of a helicopter on missions with the SEALs, but instead he is chipping away at the paint on the deck of a ship and he hates the Navy for it, Jones said .
“When you’re on deck, you’re farther away from the SEALs than ever before,” Jones said.
Defense attorneys said the trial showed only a shoddy investigation by government investigators, who rushed to judgement and failed to gather evidence that the culprit could also be lithium batteries. ion or a flaming forklift.
