Navy SEAL Chief NCO Tony DeDolph will spend the next decade in a military prison for his role in the 2017 assassination of a special forces soldier in Mali.
A military jury sentenced DeDolph, a member of the elite SEAL Team 6, on Saturday. In addition to ten years in prison, DeDolph has also been hit by the downgrade to E-1, the forfeiture of his pay and allowances and will be dishonorably discharged, according to a defense official.
DeDolph pleaded guilty earlier this month to involuntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of Army staff. Logan Melgar, a Special Forces soldier assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group. DeDolph also pleaded guilty to embezzlement, conspiracy and obstruction of justice for trying to cover up the cause of Melgar’s death.
DeDolph also, as part of his plea agreement, agreed to a provision prohibiting him from taking advantage of the case in any way, including writing books or earning money based on his experience with SEAL Team 6 .
Phil Stackhouse, DeDolph’s civil lawyer, did not return calls or text messages to comment. Melgar’s widow, Michelle, attended the trial but declined to comment on the sentence, which is the longest one of the men involved in his murder has received.
DeDolph was part of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, commonly known as Seal Team 6. In 2017, he and Melgar were part of an intelligence operation in Mali that launched terrorist attacks against al-Qaida’s local branch, known as al Qaeda in the Islamic State. Maghreb, supported.
Earlier this month, he told a military judge he and the other men were avenging an ‘observed minor’ after Melgar left them to attend a party at the French embassy in the capital Bamako in Mali, according to the Associated Press. His job was to put Melgar in a ‘back naked choke’ that restricted blood flow to the neck.
“I applied the stranglehold effectively, as I have done several times with exercise, and what has been done to me,” DeDolph told the judge.
DeDolph said the attack was meant to be a joke and that the seriousness drank during a night. DeDolph, Navy SEAL Chief of Staff Adam Matthews, also a member of SEAL Team 6, and two Marine Raiders – Gunnery Sgt. Mario Madera-Rodriguez and Staff Sgt. Kevin Maxwell – was about to break into Melgar’s room, unconsciously suffocate, tie with tape and put on a gorilla mask to dance him and take a video of the whole affair. The four men – after obtaining permission from Sergeant First Class James Morris, Melgar’s supervisor – broke down Melgar’s door and attacked him. Previous evidence pointed the finger at DeDolph as the instigator, but he told the military judge: “it was more like a pack mentality, a group decision.”
DeDolph is the third of four defendants to plead guilty in the case. Matthews, 33, pleaded guilty to charges of initiation and assault and attempts to conceal what happened to Melgar. He was sentenced in May 2019 to one year in prison. Maxwell, 29, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty in June 2019 to negligent murder, exposing and making false official statements.
Only Madera-Rodriguez is still awaiting trial. He is expected to face a court-martial in February and has no plans to plead guilty, his civil lawyer Colby Vokey said earlier this month.
DeDolph’s ten-year sentence includes one of the final chapters in a case that saw one of the NCIS investigators removed from the case after allegedly having a romantic relationship with a witness. The gun show in Vegas and the Navy promoted DeDolph four months after he admitted to investigators that he had suffocated the Green Beret.
But the case’s lasting legacy could be the window facing not only the SEAL culture, but also special operations in general. Melgar’s death was one of several ugly incidents, ranging from allegations of war crimes to soldiers of the army smuggling cocaine from Colombia – to tarnish the reputation of special operations.
According to sources familiar with the investigation, there were widespread alcohol use, parties and prostitutes in the safe closet in Mali. This is a pattern that fits with the numerous incidents of sexual assault, sexual misconduct and drug use associated with these units, including a platoon of SEAL Team 7 sent home from Iraq to a ‘drunken party’ on 4 July in 2019. which spurred allegations of sexual assault.
An ethical review by the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in January found no systemic problems, but acknowledged that 20 years of fighting had weakened the development of leaders in power. It has had an impact on our culture, ‘said General Richard Clarke of the Army, SOCOM’s Commander.
“The end result is that we have focused excessively on employment and mission, at the expense of training and developing our power,” Clarke wrote in a letter to the power. “In some cases, this imbalance has set conditions for unacceptable behavior due to a lack of leadership, discipline and accountability,” Clarke added.
“Culture is not inclined – it must be cultivated by leaders, and only active, consistent involvement of leaders at every level will make us better.”