March 06, 2006
Hearings set for two survival instructors in Marine’s drowning death

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer

The Marine Corps set March 16 as the date for a preliminary hearing for two combat water survival instructors who have been charged in the August drowning death of another Marine, officials said March 6.

Staff Sgts. David J. Roughan and Fernando Galvan are charged with manslaughter, negligent homicide and dereliction of duty in the Aug. 1 drowning death of Staff Sgt. Andrew Jason Gonzales at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.


The depot commander, Maj. Gen. John Paxton Jr., referred the charges to an investigative officer, who will consider evidence and testimony during the hearing, which is slated to begin March 16. The hearing is convened under Article 32 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The investigative officer could recommend to Paxton that the charges be dropped, reduced or forwarded to a court-martial.

Gonzales, 30, of Houston, died several months after he returned from a combat tour in Iraq. He had recently graduated from Drill Instructor School in San Diego and was undergoing a preparation course to become a combat water survival instructor.

Ellie