Navy filing homicide charges for McCain, Fitzgerald commanders

[nitpicker]

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/01/17/homicide-charges-charges-for-mccain-fitzgerald-commanders/

Navy filing homicide charges for McCain, Fitzgerald commanders

By: Geoff Ziezulewicz    9 hours ago

The commanders of two warships that collided with commercial vessels in the west Pacific last summer, killing 17 sailors, will face negligent homicide and other criminal charges, Navy officials said Tuesday. Four destroyer Fitzgerald officers, including skipper Cmdr. Bryce Benson, will face charges of negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and hazarding a vessel for the June 17 incident that killed seven sailors off Japan, according to the Navy.

The three other officers, two lieutenants and one lieutenant j.g., were not identified in the Navy statement. Cmdr. William Speaks, a Navy spokesman, said that the process for deciding whether the officers will be court-martialed is “very early in the process.” “Everyone apart from someone in the command triad has an expectation of privacy,” Speaks said.

Specifically, the charges have been preferred for possible court-martial, meaning the officers will face Article 32 hearings that will review evidence in each case to determine whether the officers should be court-martialed. If courts-martial proceed for the unnamed officers, Speaks said their names and roles will be revealed then.
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Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez, who was in command of the destroyer John S. McCain at the time of the Aug. 21 collision near Singapore that killed another 10 sailors, will face the same charges, according to the Navy.