On day eight, the final day of testimony in the Bonhomme Richard arson case, more than a handful of witnesses and experts took the stand in the courthouse at Naval Base San Diego. The prosecution, the Federal Government, has accused sailor Richard Sawyer Mays of setting the $1 billion ship on fire.
On the other side, Mays’ defense team tried to poke holes in that claim, pointing to other possible causes of the fire.
Mays wasn’t even the main focus Wednesday, as he decided not to testify. Instead, it was packed with testimonies about deep analysis of lithium-ion batteries, damaged forklifts, a fireman's video of the scene, and a claim that a current ATF fire investigator had a bias, to name a few components of the trial.
The focus for the defense was pointing to other potential causes of the fire like seaman recruit Elijah McGovern seen near the ship. There were conflicting reports of him being spotted in a grainy video at the base exit. Judge Captain Derek Butler refused to allow the prosecution’s cellular data analyst to testify and show evidence about McGovern’s location. Butler ruled that the defense had only received notice of a report authored by that expert, this week. And therefore, the defense did not have ample time to prepare.
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McGovern is no longer with the Navy and was not present for the trial. He has not been charged with a crime.
The court was delayed Wednesday morning due to the defense’s request for access to recent documents and information collected by the prosecution through witness and current ATF investigator Matthew Beales. Using his access to a database, Beales queried information on a previous fire cause and origin reports, authored by former ATG agent Phil Fouts.
The defense team’s LCDR Jordi Torres alleged Beales bias, through questioning, to explain whether he abided by the rules and policies. Beales claimed he did not violate any rules and has access to case files he claimed were important for him to study Fouts’ former cause of fire explanations. Jordi wanted to make sure that the defense team had access to all the documents queried. But Judge Butler ruled that the prosecution provide the defense team with only four of Fouts’ fire reports that were found relevant to this case.
New to the stand, San Diego fire captain Jack Middleton testified and narrated his helmet video recorded the day of the fire when he arrived on the scene. Both legal teams questioned him about what he saw and the location of objects like scaffolding or lithium-ion batteries, which the defense believes could have been the cause of the fire.
More on the USS Bonhomme Richard Arson Trial
The prosecution then brought electrical engineer Michael Abraham, who testified about his analysis of damaged forklift batteries found on site, as not the cause of the fire. The defense refuted this claim. Mays' former attorney, Gary Barthel, who's not involved in this part of the case, summarized each legal team's plan of action.
“… the defense experts have testified that there were other potential causes of the fire and because there are other potential causes of the fire, you can’t determine the fire was arson. You have to at least make a determination that the cause of the fire is undetermined,” said Barthel. “ I think in closing, the government is going to hammer home the fact that Velasco saw somebody that he identified as Mays going to the lower vault just prior to the fire. And they’re also gonna hammer home their experts who say, 'Hey this isn’t arson.'”
Closing arguments are set for Thursday.
