SEAL Sentenced to 10 Years in Death of Green Beret Logan Melgar

The SEAL who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Green Beret Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar in 2017 was sentenced to 10 years of confinement on Saturday, USNI News has learned.

In addition to the confinement, Chief Special Warfare Operator Anthony DeDolph was reduced in rank to E1, loss of pay and a dishonorable discharge, DeDolph’s defense attorney Phil Stackhouse told USNI News on Saturday.

DeDolph, formerly a member of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, also known as SEAL Team 6, pleaded guilty on Jan. 14 to commit assault, involuntary manslaughter, hazing and obstruction of justice. His initial charges included felony murder.

He and Melgar lived in the same house in Bamako, Mali as part of a special operations detachment operating in Africa. SEALs DeDolph, Chief Special Warfare Operator Adam Matthews and Marine Raiders Staff Sgt. Kevin Maxwell and Gunnery Sgt. Mario Madera-Rodriguez had planned a “tape job” for Melgar over drinks after a perceived slight.

During Matthews’ trial last year, The Associated Press reported “the Marines felt Melgar had abandoned them in an unsafe city that’s been the target of terrorist activity.” On June 4, 2017, the Marines, SEALs, a British citizen and two Malian guards broke into Melgar’s room with a sledgehammer and DeDolph applied a “rear naked choke” to force Melgar unconscious.

“I effectively applied the chokehold as I have done numerous times in training, in combatives, and has been done to me,” DeDolph told a military judge on Jan. 14, according to The Associated Press.

After 30 seconds, Melgar did not wake up and the SEALs and Marines unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate the solider, according to Stackhouse.

In a subsequent Army investigation, prosecutors say that the SEALs left out key details like the duct tape and the presence of the Marines prompting the obstruction of justice charges.

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