JUDY WOODRUFF: Two deadly
accidents involving U.S.
Navy ships last year
could lead to severe

consequences for the
officers involved in
the collisions at sea.

John Yang has the details of
the harsh charges against the
commanders of the two vessels.

JOHN YANG: Judy, last June,
the USS Fitzgerald, a destroyer
that's part of the U.S. Seventh

Fleet in the Pacific,
was broadsided off the
coast of Japan by a
massive container ship.

The collision killed seven
sailors aboard the Fitzgerald
and crippled the vessel.

Two months later,
near Singapore, there
was another incident
involving a Seventh Fleet

guided missile destroyer, the
John S. McCain, named for the
Arizona senator's father and

grandfather, both admirals.

It collided with
a merchant vessel.

Ten sailors died
in that accident.

Now the former commanders of
both vessels, Bryce Benson of
the Fitzgerald, and Alfredo

J. Sanchez of the McCain,
face a battery of offenses,
including negligent homicide.

Both men had previously
been relieved of command,
part of a wave of
disciplinary actions across

the Seventh Fleet.

For more on the unusual nature
of these charges, I'm joined by
retired Lieutenant Colonel Gary

Solis.

A Marine Corps combat veteran
of Vietnam, he is an expert
in military law and teaches

law at Georgetown University and
George Washington University.

Gary, thanks for joining us.

You were a lawyer in the
Marines, a judge in the Marines.

How unusual is it to
have charges like this,
negligent homicide,
filed against -- pending

against two officers?

LT.

COL.

GARY SOLIS (RET.), U.S.
Marine Corps: It's more
than extremely rare.

It's never happened before.

I can find -- I can
think of no precedent
for the court-martial
of an officer for an

incident like this.

JOHN YANG: The top command or
higher-up command, would the
brass be involved in a decision

like this?

LT.

COL.

GARY SOLIS: Yes, definitely so.

This is not your ordinary
court-martial, of course.

And so the drafting of
charges would be something
that would be of interest
to the higher command

and something that they would
and lawfully can take a hand in.

They want to ensure that there
is -- there is a price to
pay and that justice is done.

JOHN YANG: What do you
think's going on here?

LT.

COL.

GARY SOLIS: I think that a
message is being sent to the
Seventh Fleet and the rest of

the United States Navy,
and particularly commanding
officers of ships
everywhere, that they are

going to have to take a closer
hand in the training and the
drilling and the oversight

of their ships and their seamen.

JOHN YANG: And has
this been a problem?

After the second collision
of the McCain, there was a
stand-down to review safety.

There have been a number of top
commanders relieved of command.

Are they Gray -- what are
they trying to address here?

You said they're trying to tell
them to pay more attention.

LT.

COL.

GARY SOLIS: Right.

Clearly, there is something
wrong when you have not only
these two collisions, but you

also have a grounding of the
Antietam, and you have the
Lake Champlain colliding with

a fishing boat all in 2017.

So, what this is addressing is
a need to pay closer attention
to the training of these

crews, to the manning of the
conn, to the watch officers who
are overseeing the lookouts,

and to the officer of the deck
who is overseeing everyone when
the captain isn't on the bridge.

JOHN YANG: So, are these
charges against the commanders
of these ships not necessarily

for things they may have done
or not done, but maybe things
that their crew didn't do?

LT.

COL.

GARY SOLIS: Well, that's true.

But, as you know, in the
military, commanding officers,
particularly commanding officers

of ships, are responsible
for, as I say, everything
that goes on during their
watch and everything

that fails to go on
during their watch.

So this is not all that
unusual in the military.

At My Lai, for example, there
was -- the commanding general of
the division was also referred

to trial, although he
never went to trial.

But commanding officers will
always be taking the hits,
legal hits, for the substandard

performance of their units.

JOHN YANG: These two commanders
relieved of duty already,
their careers probably over.

LT.

COL.

GARY SOLIS: Definitely.

JOHN YANG: What
could happen now?

Could they go to military
prison if they're convicted?

LT.

COL.

GARY SOLIS: Absolutely.

Absolutely.

These are serious charges.

The maximum punishment
for negligent homicide
is three years.

And they are also charged with
dereliction of duty, which is
three months is the maximum,

and hazarding a vessel
through negligence, two years.

So, were they convicted of those
three things, they could be
looking at years' confinement,

but I don't think
that's going to happen.

JOHN YANG: Why not?

LT.

COL.

GARY SOLIS: Because the
message has been sent merely
by preferral of charges.

And when they go to trial,
actually go to court-martial,
which I assume will happen,

I would anticipate a pretrial
agreement and a guilty plea.

But it's hard to envision
the commanders of these ships
actually going to prison.

The purpose of these
court-martials, in my
estimation, is as much
as to send a warning

to other commanders, as
we have already said,
as it is to address the
shortcomings, alleged

shortcomings, of these officers.

JOHN YANG: Gary Solis, thanks
so much for joining us to
help us understand this.

LT.

COL.

GARY SOLIS: My pleasure.

Thank you.