Navy SEAL pleads guilty in 2017 strangulation death of Green Beret
I posted about this case before. Hazing gone bad. Very bad.
A Navy SEAL charged in the strangulation death of an Army Green Beret staff sergeant in 2017 pleaded guilty to reduced charges today.
During a hearing at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, Navy Chief Special Warfare Operator Tony E. DeDolph pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, obstruction of justice, conspiracy charges related to assault and obstruction of justice, and hazing.
DeDolph faces a maximum punishment of 22 years, six months in prison, reduction to E-1, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, a fine and dishonorable discharge.Matthews was the first to plead and laid out many details of the incident.
“I cannot describe how sorry I am for the death of Staff Sgt. Melgar,” Matthews testified in a military courtroom in Norfolk in May 2019.
“I’ve carried the weight of Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar’s death every minute of every day since that night in Mali,” Matthews said. “I am tormented by my complacency at a time when my teammates required guidance and the situation required bold, decisive action. This was my fault and I accept total responsibility for the consequences of my poor decision.”
Matthews received a sentence of one-year confinement and a bad conduct discharge. Maxwell pleaded guilty a month later to negligent homicide, hazing and making false official statements. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
Both testified that they, along with DeDolph and Madera-Rodriguez, together planned to break into Melgar’s room, duct tape him and video record him in a sexually embarrassing embarassing act.
The quartet planned their attack during an all-night bar-hopping and drinking session. They used a sledgehammer at around 5 a.m. to break open Melgar’s door and surprise him as he slept, the men testified.