After two days of hearings at Naval Base San Diego, a Navy decide is contemplating what proof will likely be admitted in subsequent month’s trial of the sailor charged with setting the hearth that destroyed the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard in 2020.
Seaman Recruit Ryan Mays, 21, is charged with aggravated arson and the willful hazarding of a vessel. Prosecutors allege Mays was disgruntled working as a deck seaman on the ship. Protection attorneys say the Navy is searching for somebody in charge for the lack of a $1 billion warship.
Mays denies the costs. He faces as much as life in jail if convicted.
Cmdr. Derek Butler, the decide presiding over Mays’ court-martial, dominated in favor Thursday of protection motions to permit the introduction of an alternate suspect. Protection attorneys say the Naval Felony Investigative Service was too desirous to get rid of one other Bonhomme Richard sailor as a suspect as they zeroed-in on Mays.
Mays’ protection staff may even be capable to introduce a idea {that a} smaller mattress fireplace on board the touchdown helicopter dock Essex a mile down the waterfront on the identical day because the Bonhomme Richard fireplace began suggests one other suspect began each fires, the decide mentioned.
It wasn’t all wins for the protection. Testimony from a Navy master-at-arms who says Mays made an announcement out loud alongside the strains of “I am responsible, I assume I did it — it needed to be performed,” when he realized he was being arrested for the crime will likely be admissible at trial over protection objections.
The decide has but to rule on different motions, together with one from the protection that argues Mays tried to say his proper to stay silent below the fifth modification throughout his interrogation by NCIS in 2020. Protection attorneys say all the pieces within the interrogation should not be admissible at trial, together with statements he made about his expertise on the Navy SEALs’ Fundamental Underwater Demolition Faculty, generally known as “BUDs.”
These statements are key to the prosecution’s case to determine what they are saying was Mays’ motive for beginning the hearth — that he was offended about leaving BUDs after 5 days of coaching and disgruntled residing the lifetime of a shipboard sailor.
At Mays’ preliminary Article 32 listening to in December, prosecutors alleged he was seen coming into the ship’s decrease automobile storage space simply earlier than sailors noticed smoke in the identical area. A witness — a sailor standing watch on the prime of the ramp resulting in the so-called “decrease V” — testified he noticed Mays stroll down however not again up simply earlier than the hearth started. Prosecutors’ idea suggests Mays left the area by way of a ladder on the other aspect of the area from the ramp.
The Bonhomme Richard burned for greater than 4 days on the base in 2020, starting on the morning of Sunday, July 12. Early confusion as to who was in cost on the scene and the poor situation of the ship’s fireplace station contributed to the blaze raging uncontrolled, a Navy investigation discovered. The service elected to scrap the vessel final yr relatively than restore it, citing value.
Mays, in a departure from earlier courtroom appearances, didn’t draw back from reporters and photographers outdoors the courthouse Wednesday after the listening to and answered some questions on his life within the Navy whereas awaiting trial.
Mays mentioned he is on short-term responsibility at Assault Craft Unit 5 on Camp Pendleton, however is simply checking in by cellphone as he’s working a job outdoors his Navy duties.
“The Navy’s conscious that I am working a job outdoors all this proper now,” Mays informed reporters after courtroom recessed Wednesday.
Mays wore a Navy gown white uniform with a “USS Bonhomme Richard” rocker on his sleeve in the course of the two-day listening to, which ended Thursday. He wore the rank insignia of a seaman recruit, or E-1, after showing in earlier courtroom hearings carrying two distinct incorrect ranks. In December, he wore the rank of a seaman, or E-3, though his official rank was seaman apprentice, or E-2. After being diminished in rank in January, Mays appeared at his arraignment carrying the rank insignia of a seaman apprentice, or E-2, whereas his official rank was seaman recruit, or E-1.
Mays’ trial is scheduled for Sept. 19-29 at Naval Base San Diego.
© 2022 The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Distributed by Tribune Content material Company, LLC.
© Copyright 2022 The San Diego Union-Tribune. All rights reserved. This materials might not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
