Plea deal possible for Wis. Navy commander
Benson waived his preliminary hearing scheduled for next week
A Navy commander from Wisconsin has waived a preliminary hearing on charges from a deadly collision, setting the stage for a potential plea agreement in the case.
Cmdr. Bryce Benson is facing a potential court martial after the ship he commanded, the USS Fitzgerald, struck a commercial vessel off the coast of Japan in June 2017, killing seven American sailors. The Fitzgerald collision was one of four incidents involving U.S. Navy ships — two with fatalities — in the region last year, claiming a total of 17 lives.
The Navy announced Monday that Benson had waived an Article 32 hearing that was scheduled for next week — a preliminary hearing that would have determined if there is enough evidence to proceed with the case.
The decision to waive the hearing may indicate a plea deal is in the works, said David Grogan, a retired military lawyer who during his 27-year career was involved in Article 32 hearings as the hearing officer and an attorney for both sides.
“Normally in a contested trial, there are few reasons for the defense to waive the hearing, so the fact that the defense has done so in this case may indicate it is considering a plea agreement,” he said.
In a military court, such an agreement would typically include stipulations on the charges an officer is pleading guilty to, the maximum possible punishment and the forum the case proceeds in. Military discipline can be handled through a general court martial (a formal trial), a special court martial (essentially a misdemeanor trial, with lesser potential punishment), nonjudicial action such as a fine and letter of reprimand or administrative action such as counseling.
No details have been released on what comes next for Benson.
The commanding officer of the USS McCain — the other ship involved in a fatal collision near Japan last year — will face a special court martial, the Navy revealed Monday. Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez had been charged with negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and endangering a ship for the August 2017 collision, but Sanchez is now facing only a charge of dereliction of duty.
Navy spokesman William Speaks said Sanchez does not have a plea agreement in place and is scheduled for an arraignment May 25.
The Navy has not said what charges Benson is facing. Benson, a native of Green Bay and a graduate of Marquette University, was removed as commander of the USS Fitzgerald shortly after the deadly collision.
Benson was one of four USS Fitzgerald officers charged in the incident.
One of those cases came to a close last week in a hearing that shed some light on how the 505-foot destroyer was struck broadside by a container ship. Lt. Junior Grade Sarah Coppock was the officer of the deck, in charge of the USS Fitzgerald’s operation at the time of the crash. She pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and received a non-judicial punishment: loss of half her pay for three months and a letter of reprimand.
Coppock testified last week that she had been instructed by Benson to maintain a speed of 20 knots as the ship moved through heavy shipping traffic in the overnight hours of June 17, 2017, according to Stars and Stripes, an independent military news organization. She said the ship’s main radar unit had stopped working shortly before the collision.
Benson — who suffered a traumatic brain injury in the collision — was asleep in his quarters at the time of the collision, even though military rules required officers to awaken him when other ships were nearby. Coppock testified there was an unspoken culture on the ship to not follow that order in the area because it would have required waking Benson “every five minutes,” Stars and Stripes reported.
Two other officers on the USS Fitzgerald, Lt. Natalie Combs and Lt. Irian Woodley, faced an Article 32 hearing last week on charges of negligent homicide, dereliction of duty resulting in death and improper hazarding of a vessel (negligent navigation), according to charge sheets released by the Navy.
The Navy has not yet revealed the next step in those cases, which, like Benson’s, could be heard in a variety of forums. Another three USS Fitzgerald officers have received non-judicial punishments, getting letters of reprimand for being derelict in their duties.
If Benson is brought to court-martial, he would be the first Naval commanding officer to face the tribunal in about three decades.
The Fitzgerald collision was one of four mishaps in quick succession in 2017 — all of which the Navy termed “avoidable” or primarily the result of human error.
The USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker near Singapore in August, killing 10 sailors; the USS Lake Champlain collided with a fishing vessel in the Sea of Japan in May, causing minor damage; and the USS Antietam ran aground in Tokyo Bay in January with no deaths.
The incidents led to multiple investigations, a fleetwide review and the removal of an array of top commanders.