Navy commander fights back amid homicide charge in USS Fitzgerald collision

WASHINGTON - Awaiting a court-martial on counts that include negligent homicide, a Navy commander from Wisconsin is publicly defending himself for the first time since a collision last year killed seven U.S. sailors aboard his ship.

Cmdr. Bryce Benson’s attorney, Justin Henderson, said comments by Navy officials have cast the Green Bay native in an unfair light and tainted the military justice proceedings that have yet to play out.

“Senior Navy leaders have repeatedly used public forums to assign guilt, foreclose legitimate defenses, and cast unwarranted aspersions," Henderson said in a statement Tuesday. “A fair court-martial will expose the facts of the collision’s causes and Cmdr. Benson’s actions."

Henderson, a Navy-assigned attorney, also said Benson has not reached a plea agreement in the case and won't pursue one. Benson is charged with one count of negligent homicide, two counts of dereliction of duty and two counts of negligent hazarding (navigation) of a vessel, according to a Navy source. The Navy had previously declined to identify the charges against Benson.

Benson, a graduate of Marquette University whose parents live in Waushara County, was in his quarters when his 505-foot destroyer was struck broadside by a Philippine container ship off Japan in the overnight hours on June 17. The incident occurred five weeks after Benson took command of the ship.

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The officer in charge of navigation at the time, Lt. Junior Grade Sarah Coppock, testified last week that the ship’s radar stopped working shortly before the collision and she had been instructed by Benson to maintain a speed of 20 knots in the heavily-trafficked shipping channel, according to Stars and Stripes, an independent military news organization. Navy rules require the commanding officers be notified when other ships are nearby, but Coppock said there was an unspoken culture on the Fitzgerald to not follow that order in the area because it would have required waking Benson “every five minutes.”

Henderson said that’s not the case.

“(Benson) was never alerted his ship was in danger, in direct contravention of his standing orders,” he said in the statement.

Coppock is one of six officers under Benson to face military discipline so far. She pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and received a non-judicial punishment of reduced pay for three months and a letter of reprimand, the Navy said. Three other officers have received similar punishment for dereliction of duty, and two face ongoing cases. Lt. Natalie Combs and Lt. Irian Woodley faced a preliminary Article 32 hearing last week on charges of negligent homicide, dereliction of duty resulting in death and improper hazarding of a vessel (negligent navigation).

Henderson said public comments by Navy leaders have compromised Benson’s ability to get a fair trial. He said the press release on Coppock noted she “accepted responsibility” by pleading guilty, implying Benson hasn’t done so.

Henderson said Benson “understood the accountability that is the historical burden of command at sea” and waived his Article 32 hearing — a preliminary step before a potential court-martial — earlier this week “to spare the families of the fallen and the (USS Fitzgerald) crew any unnecessary recitation of the events and circumstances surrounding the tragic collision.”

The Navy is “litigating this case through the media,” Henderson said.

"The Navy's public messaging about Fitzgerald 'accountability' and 'responsibility' has the likely prejudicial effect of influencing the senior officers who could sit as fact-finders at Cmdr. Benson's court-martial," the attorney said in an email to USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.

The Navy has not yet determined how Benson’s case will proceed. Military discipline can be handled through a general court martial (a formal trial), a special court martial (similar to a misdemeanor trial, with lesser potential punishment), non-judicial action such as a fine and letter of reprimand, or administrative action such as counseling.

Court proceedings take place at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., where Benson was stationed to receive medical care after being removed as the USS Fitzgerald commander in August.

Henderson said Benson is continuing to recover from his “debilitating injuries” but declined to provide more detail on his condition. The Navy has said Benson suffered a traumatic brain injury when the container ship struck the USS Fitzgerald directly on Benson’s sleeping quarters.

Benson, whose Navy biography calls him a Green Bay native, attended Middleton High School in Dane County for ninth and 10th grades before moving to Michigan. He graduated from Marquette University in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in history and earned his commission through Marquette’s Naval ROTC program.

The Fitzgerald collision was one of four Navy mishaps in quick succession in Asia in 2017 — all of which the Navy termed "avoidable" or primarily the result of human error. The incidents came two years after a report from the Government Accountability Office warned of increasing risk from limited training, reduced maintenance and a surge in deployed time for ships like the USS Fitzgerald that are based overseas.

The USS McCain collided with an oil tanker near Singapore in August, killing 10 sailors; the USS Lake Champlain caused minor damage in a collision with a fishing vessel in the Sea of Japan in May; and the USS Antietam ran aground in Tokyo Bay in January with no deaths.

The commanding officer of the USS McCain — Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez — will face a special court-martial on a charge of dereliction of duty, the Navy revealed Monday. Sanchez had been charged with negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and endangering a ship, but a Navy spokesman said the changes were not part of a plea agreement.