Attorney: SEAL to accept plea deal in Green Beret's death

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: AP

NORFOLK, Va. — A U.S. Navy SEAL is expected to formally accept a plea deal on Thursday for his role in the 2017 strangulation death of a U.S. Army Green Beret in Africa.

Navy SEAL Adam Matthews is one for four U.S. service members charged with murder and related counts in the death of Army Staff Sergeant Logan Melgar, a Texas native.

The five men were stationed in the African country of Mali. Charging documents describe a situation in which some of the nation's most elite military personnel — including two members of the famed SEAL Team Six — broke into Melgar's bedroom while he was sleeping, bound him with duct tape and put him into a choke hold.

A special court martial hearing for Matthews is scheduled for Thursday at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia. It could offer new details about what happened that night. Publicly released charging documents have not revealed a specific motive.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/attorney-seal-to-accept-plea-deal-in-green-berets-death/ar-AABpvvb?li=BBnb7Kz

[mr_lebowski]

1. A Code Red?

Publicly released charging documents have not revealed a specific motive.

I guess we can't handle the truth ...

[Anon-C]

3. Not quite a code red. Special Operations teams are given money....

...for a host of reasons. These SEALs skimmed and Sgt. Melgar found out, this is what I surmised as the motive. So this was not illicit group discipline and ordering within the ranks as a classic "Code Red" is, this is two thugs who happen to be SEALs who rubbed out what they thought was their snitch. This is my informed conjecture, take it FWIW.

Glad to here CID delivered and his widow will have some justice.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

6. Excuse me ? Charging documents have not revealed a specific motive ?

BULL SHIT.

I've been following this since the story broke. Logan Melgar was one squared-away guy. He followed the rules and lived the code. When he found out that money was being skimmed by two NAVY SEALS and two USMC Raiders, from US funds set aside for paying informants for HUMINT, he reported it up the chain of command. At first, they tried to stop him by offering him a cut of the money there were STEALING and bribe him. He refused. From that point on, he was a dead man.

As a retired sailor, this sickens me. In the NAVY, we look upon SEALS as being the best of the best. What these guys did is unforgivable. Specifically, the original charges were pre-meditated murder, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, tampering with (removing) evidence and lying to officials. Their stories changed rapidly and repeatedly once Melgar stopped breathing.

At first they said they found him unconscious on the floor. Then they tried to say that they were engaging in "hand-to-hand combat training." At 4am ? He was in his bed sound asleep. Hours earlier, he had returned from a party at the French Embassy that the others were not invited to attend. Witnessed have placed them at area bars, out drinking most of the night.

They brought duct tape and a sledge hammer to break into his room. They then claimed that he was drunk and passed out. Melgar was NOT a drinker and tox reports revealed that there was NO ALCOHOL in his system.

They broke into his room, jumped him and proceeded to duct tape his legs together. Matthews, who is a mixed-martial arts professional (and champion), put him in a chokehold. Melgar's hyoid bone was impacted and he stopped breathing. Next, instead of calling EMT services, they performed a field trach on him. This was done for one reason and one reason only - to try to cover up the damage to his hyoid. When they realized that Melgar was dead, they then took him to a clinic across town.

They murdered this man, plain and simple because he was going to testify against them for their theft of US funds.

What really infuriates me is that these men will be permitted to plead down to the bare minimum of their crimes, for the good of the US NAVY, NAVY SEAL Teams (specifically SEAL Team Six) and to maintain the sterling reputation of the NAVY.

Excuse me while I go puke.

"When the hand has gangrene, you don't fail to amputate just because the pinky meant well."

[jmowreader]

2. An "unforeseen accident"? BULLSHIT!

They broke into the guy’s room and strangled him to death. I wonder if the assault really happened because of interservice bullshit...SEALs and MARSOC tend to work together, and they may have been offended by being “stuck” with a 3rd Group guy on their team. Which is no reason to kill an operator, but a big reason to start looking hard at the rest of the Special Operations community...in this environment, if you refuse to operate on an interservice team you’re no good to us.

[Anon-C]

4. They need to change in the culture at North Island IMHO.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/us/navy-seals-crimes-of-war.html

[Blue_Tires]

10. It's clear that the Navy just wants this whole story to go away ASAP

Bloody mess all around...

[Talitha]

5. It was a 'hazing accident' ?

"Matthews' attorney, Grover Baxley, said Matthews will plead guilty to hazing, assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Charges of murder and involuntary manslaughter will be dropped, Baxley said.

Baxley said that Melgar's death "was an unforeseen accident that has dramatically impacted the lives of everyone involved."

[Haggis for Breakfast]

7. "Hazing ?"

These guys were E-5s, E-6s and above. There is not a lot of "hazing" at that level.

And Melgar's death was NO fucking accident. They planned this. Ask yourself, if you're going to some guys's room - even at 4am - to "haze" him - are you taking four highly-trained operatives, rolls of duct tape and a sledge hammer ? I spent a career in the NAVY . . . this is BS.

(See my post above.)

[Talitha]

8. Sheesh, take it easy...

I didn't write the article, I merely posted a few quotes from it.

[Polybius]

9. Green Berets are the toughest of the tough

It took two SEAL Team Six members to kill one Green Beret, and still he had to be sucker attacked while he was sleeping. In a fair knife fight you would have had two dead SEAL's.

[Blue_Tires]

11. FOR THOSE WHO MISSED THE BACKSTORY:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sex-alcohol-and-violence-collided-in-murder-case-ensnaring-seals-and-marines/2019/04/16/201404d4-57dd-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html

https://www.thedailybeast.com/seals-marines-charged-with-green-beret-logan-melgars-murder

[Princetonian]

12. Hmmm... corrupt murdering sociopaths masquerading as heroes.

One wonders if they killed with impunity before.

But this is the one time they crossed the line.

[Blue_Tires]

13. If nothing else, there seems to be a gross lack of

discipline and leadership from their commanding officers...