{"id":24798,"date":"2021-01-04T01:44:23","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T01:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/01\/04\/new-in-2021-murder-trials-set-for-navy-seal-and-marine-raider-in-death-of-green-beret\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:34:08","slug":"new-in-2021-murder-trials-set-for-navy-seal-and-marine-raider-in-death-of-green-beret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2021\/01\/04\/new-in-2021-murder-trials-set-for-navy-seal-and-marine-raider-in-death-of-green-beret\/","title":{"rendered":"New in 2021: Murder trials set for Navy SEAL and Marine Raider in death of Green Beret"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trials for a Marine Raider and Navy SEAL, charged in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2019\/04\/18\/leaked-documents-provide-details-about-green-berets-death-involving-navy-seals-and-marine-raiders\/\" target=_blank>strangulation death<\/a> of a Green Beret Staff Sgt. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/08\/05\/navy-seal-and-marine-face-hearing-on-green-berets-death\/\" target=_blank>Logan Melgar<\/a> on a 2017 mission in Africa, are slated for early 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nearly a year after their original trial dates and more than three years after the alleged crime, two of four defendants already have pleaded guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Navy Chief Special Warfare Operator Tony E. DeDolph faces a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2019\/12\/04\/dates-set-for-murder-trial-of-navy-seal-marine-raider-in-death-of-green-beret\/\" target=_blank>three-week trial<\/a> in Norfolk, Virginia, beginning Jan. 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And co-defendant Marine Gunnery Sgt. Mario Madera-Rodriguez is soon to follow, also a three-week trial, expected to begin Feb. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both trials were delayed from their respective March and April 2020 start dates following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2020\/01\/13\/navy-seal-arraigned-on-murder-charges-in-death-of-green-beret\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Staff-Sgt.-Logan-J.-Melgar.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Navy SEAL arraigned on murder charges in death of Green Beret<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Out of the four men charged in connection to the death of Staff Sgt. Logan J. Melgar, Navy Chief Special Tony E. DeDolph was the latest arraigned on charges of conspiracy, assault, obstruction of justice, burglary, involuntary manslaughter, hazing and felony murder.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two defendants both face the following charges related to the June 4, 2017, death of Melgar in Bamako, Mali: conspiracy, assault, hazing, obstruction of justice, burglary, involuntary manslaughter and felony murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If convicted of felony murder, they face possible life in prison without parole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both of their co-defendants, Navy Chief Special Warfare Operator Adam C. Matthews and Marine Staff Sgt. Kevin Maxwell Jr., pleaded guilty and agreed to testify on behalf of the prosecution in the upcoming trials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matthews was the first to plead and laid out many details of the incident. He was sentenced to one year confinement and a bad conduct discharge. Maxwell was the next to plead and received a four-year prison sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both testified that they, along with DeDolph and Madera-Rodriguez, planned together to break into Melgar\u2019s room, duct tape him and video record him in a sexually embarrassing scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The four men used a sledgehammer at around 5 a.m. to break open Melgar\u2019s door and surprise him as he slept, according to testimony from the two co-defendants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He awoke immediately, and DeDolph, a former professional mixed martial arts fighter, pounced on Melgar, putting him in a choke hold; the other men secured his arms and legs and began to duct tape him, according to testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Within seconds in the choke hold, Melgar stopped breathing. The men later told investigators they immediately began trying to render lifesaving aid, including a field-expedient tracheotomy. But Melgar later died at a nearby medical facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All of this allegedly was in retaliation for a perceived slight and ongoing tension between Melgar and the other men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Witnesses in the May 2019 hearing for Matthews testified that Melgar was fed up with \u201cjuvenile\u201d behavior of the SEALs and Marines and couldn\u2019t wait to conclude his deployment \u2015 scheduled to end in a few weeks \u2015 and return home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following Melgar\u2019s death, each of the four defendants lied about their involvement in the incident. The SEALs claimed they\u2019d been doing hand-to-hand combat training, first saying that Melgar was intoxicated and once put in a submission hold he stopped breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But investigators quickly learned from friends of Melgar that the staff sergeant didn\u2019t drink alcohol. And his wife, at home in the United States, later told investigators that her husband wasn\u2019t comfortable with how some of his fellow special operators were behaving on the deployment, though he didn\u2019t provide her with details, investigators said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A combination of various commands have overseen the investigation. It moved from AFRICOM to special operations for all three services along with a shift from first the Army investigating and handing it over to the Navy once the Marines and SEALs involvement was confirmed. There was no public acknowledgement of the case until months after Melgar had died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the death, the men were almost immediately sent back to the United States and placed on administrative duties and nondeploying status as they awaited charges back at their respective commands in Virginia and North Carolina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two other co-defendants already have pleaded guilty in the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":30446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":69,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,25,69],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3396],"class_list":["post-24798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-marine-corps"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ZENS6RLHAJENBCY4EWGXLWXOZQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-army\/2021\/01\/03\/new-in-2021-murder-trials-set-for-navy-seal-and-marine-raider-in-death-of-green-beret\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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