(RoyalPatriot.com )- On Friday, a military judge acquitted a Navy sailor of charges related to a fire that occurred in July 2020 on the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard. The fire was responsible for the ship’s destruction.
According to The Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press, Ryan Mays, 21, was acquitted by a military judge after a nine-day trial on accusations of arson and wilful hazarding of a vessel. The trial took place in the United States Marine Corps.
The NY Times reported in a tweet-
Important Announcement: A sailor who was accused of starting a fire on a Navy ship that cost $1.2 billion and was docked in San Diego two years ago was found not guilty on all counts. — The New York Times (@nytimes), an online news source September 30, 2022
Mays told reporters on Monday that the previous two years have been the most difficult two years of his entire existence as a young man. Mays said he has neglected to spend time with my pals. He’s lost his friends. He could not spend time with his family, and his entire career in the Navy was derailed. He said he was excited about the opportunity to start over.
According to a report by the Associated Press, Mays was suspected of lighting cardboard boxes on fire on July 12, 2020, while the ship was undergoing maintenance in San Diego. The prosecution asserted that Mays’s hostility stemmed from his failure to be selected as a Navy SEAL.
According to reports from NPR, the prosecutor, Captain Jason Jones, informed the judge that the ship would be lost to the Navy due to the fire. Jones also said the previous year that the fire should have been avoided and that it was unacceptable.
Jones states, “That sucker punch from behind, that’s what the Navy could have never prevented.” The counsel for the defense proposed other potential causes of the fire and argued that the military investigators leaped to conclusions in charging Mays with the crime.
In addition, the Navy charged 36 other crew members with engaging in activities that caused the fire or contributed to it.
