I would wager that the Navy has evidence or they wouldn’t have charged him. Now, he may be able to skate he was a poofter and felt butt-hurt because he wasn’t treated with the dignity that he thought he deserved. Any wagers?
Guaranteed to be pardoned by Domestic Enemy in Chief Biden.
If he succeeds, give him his trident and make him a SEAL.
Angry about being assigned to deck duty after failing to become a Navy SEAL.
And he still doesn’t know why it takes a fit body and mind to be one.
This guy is looking at a tough three weeks probation.
It’s hard to believe there is no surveillance video available to the Navy in this case. Incompetence of a peacetime military rears its ugly head again.
Give him what he wants. Send him out with a SEAL team for some training. I’ll bet he doesn’t come back...some sort of accident, you know.
One major reason the draft ended and won’t come back.
Keel haul him!
Then hang him from the yardarm!...................
Alternatively, to the yet-to-be-proven-beyond-a-reasonable-doubt that Mays started the fire, there are other reasonable alternatives to how the fire got started, and then, because of numerous failures by ship officers, got totally out of control and burned for nearly five days, destroying the ship.
Furthermore, the judge at the preliminary (Art. 32) hearing recommended against a court-martial but was overruled by the (then) Fleet Commander.
Let’s hope this doesn’t turn into a kangaroo court-martial where clear evidence is replaced by character assassination.
The proper purpose of a trial, whether civilian or military, is primarily to determine the truth, secondarily to punish lawbreakers.
The frequent purpose of a trial, whether civilian or military, is to hang a scapegoat and the truth be damned.
"the Navy judge overseeing that process recommended the case not go to court martial. But Vice Adm. Steve Koehler, the former commander of the San Diego-based U.S. 3rd Fleet, who had the final say, ordered the court martial."
"Retired Navy Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan, an adjunct professor at Admiralty and International Maritime Law Fordham Law School, said the prosecution has its work cut out for it."
How do you set steel on fire?
I'll wager most, if not all, of those posting have never set foot on a warship, let alone one going through a major yard overhaul. He may be guilty as sin but I have no idea, and neither do you. Nor do I expect you know how easily a fire can start in the yards.
My favorite is probably the person who said the Navy wouldn't prosecute without evidence. Did you read the article? The recommendation was to not go forward with prosecution; an admiral with the final say reversed it. Do I really need to remind everyone here that Mark Milley was a four star general?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9865717/Female-sailor-center-USS-Bonhomme-fire-report.html
Female sailor at center of USS Bonhomme fire report: Seaman who ‘torched’ Navy ship told investigators they were engaged until he dumped her for getting pregnant by another man - but she says it’s all ‘bipolar lies’
Seaman Apprentice Ryan Sawyer Mays, 20, has been charged with setting the fire on board the Bonhomme last Jul
In a 10 hour interview last August, he told investigators he was newly single
He said he’d been engaged to Petty Officer Armelle Ane, who he proposed to at a French restaurant
Mays said she was then deployed to the USNS Mercy, the L.A. Covid ship, and during her deployment she became pregnant by another men
When Ane was interviewed she said all of his claims were ‘bipolar lies’
She said she’d never been engaged to him and was never pregnant - she says she took a pregnancy test to prove it after he’d spread the lie among their friends
She told the investigators he was ‘volatile and bipolar’
The Navy suggested in its report Mays was embittered against it after dropping out of the SEAL training because it was too hard
They say he was seen carrying two buckets below deck seconds before the fire started
His lawyer says he did not start the fire onboard the ship and is innocent
Ping