Navy fails to notify reporters, holds trial out of public view

NORFOLK

A Navy sailor who slashed a shipmate's throat was found guilty Friday of attempted murder after a two-day court-martial conducted outside the public eye.

Seaman Richard Mott was assigned to the Cape St. George in March 2007, when the ship was undergoing repairs at a local shipyard. According to testimony during a preliminary hearing, Mott left his work station in the kitchen of a berthing barge and attacked Seaman Jose Garcia from behind as the 18-year-old ate breakfast.

Garcia almost died, and his injuries forced him out of the Navy.

Mott's court-martial began Tuesday, with a reporter in attendance. The judge, Capt. David Bailey, almost immediately continued the case until January but noted that attorneys might reach a pretrial agreement in the interim. The Virginian-Pilot asked Beth Baker, the designated public affairs official, to be notified of any developments on the case. The trial resumed the next day, with no notice to reporters who were following the case.

Baker said that was a mistake and that she did not learn the case had resumed until Friday, and by the time she notified reporters, the sentencing was under way. "This was an isolated incident. All I can say is I'm sorry," Baker said.

Eugene R. Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, wasn't satisfied.

Fidell, a lawyer who teaches military justice at Yale University Law School, said public confidence in military justice depends on transparency.

"What does it take to get the services' attention on this?" he asked. The military has "been on notice of the media's acute interest in providing real-time coverage of newsworthy military justice for a very long time."

It was the second time in as many months that an unannounced scheduling change kept reporters from covering high-profile court proceedings at Norfolk Naval Station.

On Sept. 30, two reporters tried to attend the arraignment of a Navy chaplain charged with raping a subordinate. They were told after arriving that the arraignment had been held early and was already finished.

"The military services have got to come into the 21st century," Fidell said. "We live in an information era where it's not rocket science to create real-time, meaningful access to information and access to courtrooms."

In an interview Friday afternoon, Navy legal officials gave the following account of the court proceedings:

Mott pleaded not guilty, though he did sign a statement acknowledging his attack on Garcia.

His attorney, Greg D. McCormack, argued that Mott was schizophrenic and not responsible for his actions that day. A Navy psychiatrist who examined Mott after the attack testified that the sailor was not able to appreciate "the nature and quality of his actions" - one of two requirements for the insanity defense.

Prosecutors did not dispute that Mott has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. But they argued that his attack on Garcia was premeditated, and presented as evidence a sales receipt for the knife, which Mott bought the night before the attack.

Bailey ruled Friday that Mott was mentally responsible for his actions. The conviction could have carried a sentence of life in prison; Bailey sentenced Mott to 12 years in a federal facility.

McCormack did not respond to a message left Friday afternoon.

Cmdr. Doug Barber, the lead prosecutor in the case, called it a "very complicated, very challenging case."

The victim "was 18 years old, on his second day aboard ship, eating breakfast, when he was attacked," Barber said.

Garcia would have died if not for quick reaction from shipmates and medical care from corpsmen assigned to the ship, Barber said.

"They saved his life. He hadn't done anything wrong. He didn't deserve to have that happen."

The Cape St. George, a guided missile cruiser, is now homeported in San Diego.

Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com