Navy SEAL NCO Tony DeDolph will spend the next decade in a military prison for his role in the 2017 assassination of a Special Forces soldier in Mali.
A military jury on Saturday convicted DeDolph, a member of the elite SEAL Team 6. In addition to ten years in prison, DeDolph was also affected by the reduction in rank to E-1, the loss of his pay and diets and will be discharged dishonorably, according to a defense official.
DeDolph had pleaded guilty earlier this month to involuntary manslaughter over the death by strangulation of the Army Staff Sergeant. Logan Melgar, a Special Forces soldier assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group. DeDolph also pleaded guilty to denial, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in an attempt to cover up the cause of Melgar’s death.
DeDolph also agreed, as part of his claims agreement, a provision that would prevent him from benefiting from the case in any way, including book writing or life based on his experience at SEAL Team 6.
Phil Stackhouse, DeDolph’s civil attorney, did not return calls or text messages seeking comment. Melgar’s widow, Michelle, attended the hearing, but declined to comment on the sentence, which is the longest any of the men involved in her murder has received.
DeDolph was part of the Special Naval Warfare Development Group, commonly known as Seal Team 6. He and Melgar were part of an intelligence operation in Mali supporting counter-terrorism efforts against Mali. local al Qaeda affiliate, known as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, in 2017.
Earlier this month, he told a military judge he and the other men were taking revenge on a “slight perception” after Melgar left them to attend a party at the French embassy in the Bali capital, Mali, according to Associated Press. His job was to place Melgar in a “posterior naked strangulation” that restricts blood flow to the neck.
“I effectively applied control like I’ve done many times in training, with combative and it’s done to me,” DeDolph told the judge.
DeDolph said the attack was intended to be a joke and that the severity increased during a night of drinking. DeDolph, Marine SEAL NCO Adam Matthews, also a member of the SEAL 6 team, and two Marine Raiders – Gunnery Sgt. Mario Madera-Rodriguez and the sergeant. Kevin Maxwell: He planned to break into Melgar’s room, suffocate him unconscious, tape him and dance around him with a gorilla mask and shoot a video of it all. The four men, after receiving permission from First Class Sergeant James Morris, Melgar’s supervisor, broke Melgar’s door and attacked him. The last witness pointed DeDolph with his finger as an instigator, but told the military judge that “it was more of a package mentality, a group decision.”
DeDolph is the third of four defendants to plead guilty to the case. Matthews, 33, pleaded guilty to charges of assault and assault and attempting to cover up what happened to Melgar. He was sentenced in May 2019 to one year in military prison. Maxwell, 29, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter for negligence, filth and false official statements in June 2019.
Only Madera-Rodriguez is still on trial. He is expected to face court-martial in February and has no plans to plead guilty, his civil lawyer Colby Vokey said earlier this month.
DeDolph’s 10-year sentence closes one of the last chapters in a case that has seen one of the NCIS investigators withdraw from the case after he allegedly had a romantic relationship with a witness, one of the accused SEALs beat Melgar’s widow in a Las Vegas gun show and the Navy promote DeDolph four months after admitting to investigators that he had drowned the green beret.
But the lasting legacy of the case could be the window it offered to the problems facing not only SEAL culture, but special operations in general. Melgar’s death was one of several ugly incidents, ranging from allegations of war crimes to Army Special Forces soldiers smuggling cocaine from Colombia, to a poor reputation for special operations. .
According to sources familiar with the investigation, there was widespread consumption of alcohol, parties and prostitutes in the Mali security house. This is a pattern that adapts to the numerous incidents of sexual assault, sexual misconduct and drug use associated with these units, including a platoon of SEAL 7 team sent home from Iraq after having had a “drunken party” on July 4, 2019 that spurred allegations of sexual assault.
An ethical review by the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in January found no systemic problems, but acknowledged that 20 years of fighting degraded the development of force leaders. This “impacted our culture in some problematic ways,” said Army General Richard Clarke, a SOCOM commander.
“The bottom line is that we have disproportionately focused on employment and conducting missions at the expense of training and developing our strength,” Clarke wrote in a letter to the force. “In some cases, this imbalance has set conditions for unacceptable behaviors to occur due to a lack of leadership, discipline, and responsibility,” Clarke continued, adding:
“Culture does not tend to itself; it must be cultivated by leaders and only the active and consistent commitment of leaders at all levels will make us better.”