Prosecution Rests in Italy Cable Car Court-Martial
May 5, 1999 - 0:0
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. A crewman on board a military jet involved in the 1998 Italian cable car disaster on Monday said he regrets advising the jet's pilot and navigator to destroy a videotape shot during the flight. Capt. Chandler Seagraves said the pilot, Capt. Richard Ashby, and navigator, Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, told him they had swapped the videotape with a blank one after landing their damaged aircraft safely at the Aviano Air Base in Italy. "I asked what was on it," said the crewman, Capt. Chandler Seagraves. "They said they did not know, they had not seen the tape, and I said I'd get rid of it." Seagraves was an electronic countermeasures officer riding in the rear cockpit of Ashby's EA-6B Prowler when it sheared lift cables over an Italian ski resort in February 1998, killing 20 people in a gondola car that plunged to the ground.
Military prosecutors on Monday rested their case against Ashby, who is standing trial at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina on charges he conspired to obstruct justice by keeping the videotape from investigators. Ashby, 32, was found not guilty by a separate jury of more serious involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide charges stemming from the accident. Schweitzer in a separate trial was found guilty of conspiring to obstruct justice and stands to be dismissed from the military.
Ashby faces up to 10 years in military prison if convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges. Seagraves said he first learned that the videotapes had been switched during a brief conversation with Ashby and Schweitzer several days after the accident, and said his advice resulted from "a bad decision process." "I was under stress, not thinking properly," Seagraves said.
"The way I viewed the whole conversation when I was approached, it was purely advice." During the trial, Seagraves and Schweitzer testified Ashby was a "passive" participant in the plan to get rid of the tape. Schweitzer on Friday said he asked Asbhy to give him the tape and believed Ashby knew he planned to get rid of it. Although they have rested their case, prosecutors on Tuesday will present one additional witness who will testify via satellite from Aviano, where two marine Prowler squadrons were deployed to fly NATO support missions over Yugoslavia. The satellite link was requested by defense attorneys, who will present as witnesses two of Ashby's squadron mates.
(Reuter)
Military prosecutors on Monday rested their case against Ashby, who is standing trial at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina on charges he conspired to obstruct justice by keeping the videotape from investigators. Ashby, 32, was found not guilty by a separate jury of more serious involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide charges stemming from the accident. Schweitzer in a separate trial was found guilty of conspiring to obstruct justice and stands to be dismissed from the military.
Ashby faces up to 10 years in military prison if convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges. Seagraves said he first learned that the videotapes had been switched during a brief conversation with Ashby and Schweitzer several days after the accident, and said his advice resulted from "a bad decision process." "I was under stress, not thinking properly," Seagraves said.
"The way I viewed the whole conversation when I was approached, it was purely advice." During the trial, Seagraves and Schweitzer testified Ashby was a "passive" participant in the plan to get rid of the tape. Schweitzer on Friday said he asked Asbhy to give him the tape and believed Ashby knew he planned to get rid of it. Although they have rested their case, prosecutors on Tuesday will present one additional witness who will testify via satellite from Aviano, where two marine Prowler squadrons were deployed to fly NATO support missions over Yugoslavia. The satellite link was requested by defense attorneys, who will present as witnesses two of Ashby's squadron mates.
(Reuter)