Posted on 09/10/2005 4:46:53 PM PDT by csvset
By JON FRANK, The Virginian-Pilot
© September 10, 2005
Last updated: 12:02 AM
VIRGINIA BEACH — Citing national security concerns, a Navy admiral has asked that cameras be kept out of the courtroom when a Navy SEAL goes on trial in January in the 2004 murder of a fellow SEAL .
In a letter to defense attorney James O. Broccoletti filed in Circuit Court, Rear Adm. Joseph Maguire, commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command in San Diego, objected to photographing or filming the trial of Ronald J. Gasper.
Maguire said such filming “could expose the identities of our personnel and their families for possible terrorist retribution. For national security purposes, it is important to limit exposure of individuals in the special warfare community.”
Maguire was responding to a request by Court TV and local media to film and photograph the trial inside the courtroom.
“Media coverage of U.S. Navy SEALs is detrimental, and I am opposed to this potential coverage,” Maguire wrote.
Gasper is accused of shooting to death a fellow SEAL, Bradley J. Jondahl, on July 31, 2004, at Gasper’s home in Bayside after the two men retired there following a night of drinking.
According to court testimony in October, a drunk Gasper told police he took action after Jondahl began “acting … up. So I shot him.”
Gasper also told police he expected Jondahl to survive “because I only shot him once in the gut, not in the head,” according to testimony.
Jondahl died later that day. Gasper was charged with first-degree murder.
Gasper, 31, is stationed at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base’s Dam Neck Annex, home of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, a highly secretive arm of the Navy’s commando operations.
Jondahl, 24, was assigned to another SEAL team and lived in a Chesapeake Beach apartment.
He was buried in his hometown of Aberdeen, S.D., with full military honors.
Police learned of the shooting when Gasper called 911 to report that he had shot an intruder.
Police said he later changed his story about how Jondahl got into his house.
Gasper is free on a $30,000 surety bond, which is unusual for murder defendants. He returned to work after he was released. He will remain free until his trial.
Reach Jon Frank at (757) 222-5122 or jon.frank@pilotonline.com.
If he's found guilty, he should be dropped into New Orleans along with Seal Team 1, and given an hour's head start.
Send him on a dangerous mission in Iraq or Afghanistan from which he will not return alive.
Like Kirk Douglas in "In Harm's Way"?
Sounds like Gasper has been given an opportunity to distinguish himself by volunteering for particulary hazardous missions and avoid a trial.
Yup.
Yes, I was thinking about Kirk in that movie.
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