thedrifter
09-13-06, 06:41 PM
September 13, 2006
Staff sergeant acquitted in drowning case
By Gidget Fuentes
Staff writer
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — A military judge on Monday acquitted a staff sergeant who was charged with dereliction of duty in the 2005 drowning death of a drill instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey G. Meeks ruled during a special court martial that “the evidence presented provided insufficient proof” to find Staff Sgt. Duane D. Dishon guilty, a depot spokeswoman, Maj. Kristen Lasica, said Tuesday in a news release.
Meeks found that testimony by witnesses determined that Dishon “was no longer the staff noncommissioned officer in charge” of the depot’s water training facility at the time of Staff Sgt. Andrew Jason Gonzales’ death, Lasica stated.
Gonzales, a 30-year-old from Houston, Texas, died Aug. 1, 2005, in the second week of a conditioning course designed to prepare him to attend a formal course in Coronado, Calif., that certifies Marines to become instructors in water survival training. He drowned early that morning in an unofficial prep that one investigating officer had described as poorly supervised, lacking in safety measures and “a colossal failure.”
Dishon at one point had been in the position of the staff NCOIC of the pool, which was overseen by Instructional Training Company, but was transitioning from that position, and questions arose during earlier Article 32 hearings whether he was in the leadership position at the time of Gonzales’ death.
Dishon is one of four Marines initially charged in the case. The company commander at the time, Capt. Vincent Guida, was acquitted in May on a charge of dereliction of duty.
The two swim instructors — Staff Sgts. David J. Roughan and Fernando Galvan — are facing charges of involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide and dereliction of duty in Gonzales’ death at separate general courts-martial that begin Oct. 3 for Roughan and Oct. 16 for Galvan.
Ellie
Staff sergeant acquitted in drowning case
By Gidget Fuentes
Staff writer
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — A military judge on Monday acquitted a staff sergeant who was charged with dereliction of duty in the 2005 drowning death of a drill instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey G. Meeks ruled during a special court martial that “the evidence presented provided insufficient proof” to find Staff Sgt. Duane D. Dishon guilty, a depot spokeswoman, Maj. Kristen Lasica, said Tuesday in a news release.
Meeks found that testimony by witnesses determined that Dishon “was no longer the staff noncommissioned officer in charge” of the depot’s water training facility at the time of Staff Sgt. Andrew Jason Gonzales’ death, Lasica stated.
Gonzales, a 30-year-old from Houston, Texas, died Aug. 1, 2005, in the second week of a conditioning course designed to prepare him to attend a formal course in Coronado, Calif., that certifies Marines to become instructors in water survival training. He drowned early that morning in an unofficial prep that one investigating officer had described as poorly supervised, lacking in safety measures and “a colossal failure.”
Dishon at one point had been in the position of the staff NCOIC of the pool, which was overseen by Instructional Training Company, but was transitioning from that position, and questions arose during earlier Article 32 hearings whether he was in the leadership position at the time of Gonzales’ death.
Dishon is one of four Marines initially charged in the case. The company commander at the time, Capt. Vincent Guida, was acquitted in May on a charge of dereliction of duty.
The two swim instructors — Staff Sgts. David J. Roughan and Fernando Galvan — are facing charges of involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide and dereliction of duty in Gonzales’ death at separate general courts-martial that begin Oct. 3 for Roughan and Oct. 16 for Galvan.
Ellie