SAILOR ACCUSED IN FIRE DUE IN COURT

Seaman charged with starting blaze on U.S. assault ship

The San Diego sailor accused of starting the devastating fire on the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard last year is due to appear in a military courtroom today for a preliminary hearing.

It will be the first time the accused sailor has been in court since the Navy announced it was charging him in July.

Seaman Apprentice Ryan Mays, 20, who was a deck seaman stationed on the ship, is charged with the willful hazarding of a vessel and aggravated arson, according to his charge sheet.

Mays denies having any involvement with starting the fire, according to Gary Barthel, his San Diegobased military lawyer.

Today’s hearing, known as an “Article 32” under military law, serves as a sort of grand jury for the military court system. A hearing officer will hear from witnesses, and prosecutors will present evidence to support their contention that Mays should face court-martial. It will then be up to a convening authority — in this case the commander of the San Diego-based U.S. 3rd Fleet, Vice Adm. Stephen Koehler — to decide whether there’s enough evidence to proceed to a trial.

If found guilty at courtmartial, Mays faces prison time, though Navy officials have not said how much he could be given.

The hearing is scheduled for three days at the Naval Base San Diego courthouse, about 1,000 feet from where the ship was berthed when it burned.

Navy officials have declined to comment on what evidence the service has that Mays, a former SEAL candidate who did not complete training, intentionally started the July 12, 2020, fire. However, the sailor has been a suspect in the case since the investigation’s earliest phases, according to a federal search warrant affidavit unsealed in August for the sailor’s Gmail account.

Investigators also sought warrants for Mays’ truck, barracks room and cellphone in August 2020.

According to the affidavit, at least one sailor on the Bonhomme Richard saw someone he suspected to be Mays near where the fire began.

Investigators painted a

people arriving in San Diego. Many refugees had a variety of careers back in their home countries, as farmers, lawyers, doctors or accountants. Many are asylum seekers or arrive with special immigrant visas because they assisted the U.S. military in the Middle East.

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