SEAL Team 6 member guilty of manslaughter
DeDolph was convicted after pleading guilty to the killing of Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar
A Navy SEAL was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of an Army Green Beret while both were stationed in Mali, West Africa, in 2017.
Chief Special Warfare Operator Tony E. DeDolph of SEAL Team 6 was convicted in a court martial Thursday after pleading guilty to the charge and admitting that he applied the chokehold that killed Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar.
The hold involves placing the front of a victim’s neck in the crook of one arm, while pressing with the other on the back of the neck.
“I’ve performed this hold numerous times in training,” DeDolph told the court, saying he and the other three special operations troopers who broke into Melgar’s room that evening had intended to haze him.
“We used a sledgehammer for the shock and awe,” he said, when describing how the four broke down a door to get into Melgar’s room.
DeDolph’s plea came as part of a pretrial agreement in which the Navy dropped charges of felony murder — a homicide occurring in the course of another serious crime — and burglary. He also pleaded guilty to charges of hazing, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, which included an allegation that he cut an incision in Melgar’s neck normally used to open an emergency airway, in order to hide injuries from the chokehold.
DeDolph faces a sentence of up to 22 ½ years, but his pre-trial agreement opens a path for a
lighter punishment.
His case now goes to a jury of other Navy chiefs, warrant officers and commissioned officers, to consider a sentence recommendation. Ultimately, Rear Adm.
Charles Rock, Commander, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, will impose either the jury recommendation or whatever might have been suggested in the pretrial agreement.
Two others, former Navy Chief Special Operator Adam Matthews and former Marine Staff Sgt. Kevin Maxwell Jr., previously were been convicted in the case, after pleading guilty.
Matthews was sentenced a year in confinement, a reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge. Maxwell was sentenced in June to four years confinement, a bad conduct discharge and a reduction in rank to private.
DeDolph said the plan to haze
Melgar evolved over an evening of drinking, and said he could not say who took the lead in developing it.
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Mario Madera-Rodriguez has also been charged with murder, with a trial set for later this year.
DeDolph was assigned to Naval Special Warfare Development Group, more commonly known as
SEAL Team 6.
He has been in the Navy for 17 years, and has been assigned to special warfare units since 2004. He has been awarded a Bronze Star with Combat “V” device and a Purple Heart, among other honors.