10th November 2000, 10:44
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Messrs. Dr_Woland and Wendist:
To begin with, let me tender to all of you my profound apologies for a faulty research on my part while discussing the "Gondola" incident. I picked up the news of this event when Capt. Ashley was sentenced to six months in jail for tampering with the flight’s tape. I however, did not read prior materials that petty much express the same sentiment here in the States. Sincerely, Oca Saturday, March 6, 1999 Capt. Ashby offers hugs for families of victims Marine's gesture gets chilly response BY ESTES THOMPSON ASSOCIATED PRESS CAMP LEJEUNE -- A day after his acquittal, the pilot of a Marine jet that sliced a ski gondola cable in the Italian Alps said Friday he would like to hug the relatives of the 20 victims if they'd let him. "I don't know if they would. I don't know how to put it into words," Capt. Richard Ashby said. Ashby also said he and his three crewmates wrote the families a sympathy letter the day after the accident, but the Marines refused to deliver it. A public affairs officer told the aviators, "We represent the Marine Corps, not you," Ashby said. Also Friday, President Clinton met in the Oval Office with Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, who on Thursday said he was baffled by the verdict. The meeting had been set up long ago, and it was mere coincidence that it came on the heels of the acquittal. A jury of eight Marine officers acquitted Ashby of 20 counts of involuntary manslaughter and other charges in the Feb. 3, 1998, disaster near Cavalese, Italy. Prosecutors said Ashby ignored altitude and speed limits, while his attorneys said that an alarm never warned Ashby he was flying too low and that an optical illusion made him think he was flying higher. The verdict enraged and embittered relatives of the victims -- all of them Europeans -- as well as Italian leaders. Clinton said Americans were "profoundly regretful and apologetic for what has occurred to the families and all of the people of Italy." But D'Alema was not reassured by Clinton's words. "We shall say we are satisfied when whoever is responsible for what happened is found guilty and punished," he said. "With so many casualties and so many deaths, you can hardly ever say you are satisfied." D'Alema said Thursday that Italy will explore its options for pursuing a case. In an interview Friday, Ashby said of the victims' families: "I'd just like to give them a hug." Ashby's offer got a chilly response from Sindy Renkewitz, 20, a German whose father and sister were killed. Other relatives who attended Ashby's trial were returning home Friday and couldn't be reached for comment. "I just want to ask him if he can go on and live his life as normal as before. I think I really need to do that," Renkewitz said. "I cannot say what kind of apology I expect." Ashby said the letter he and his crewmates wrote was an attempt "to get our thoughts and our prayers and our feelings to these families" and might have made a difference in their attitude. The letter said: "What occurred on 3 February was a tragedy. We cherish life and take our jobs very seriously. We would never do anything to purposefully endanger the lives of others. We all share in your tremendous loss." Maj. Jack Blau, the public affairs officer to whom Ashby spoke, said he didn't "specifically recall" the letter and would look into it. Ashby said his life isn't the same. "I don't know if there isn't a single aspect of my life that hasn't changed from this whole thing. That's when we come into the recovery phase," the aviator said. Once destined for a job flying the swifter F-18 fighter jets, Ashby said he doesn't know whether he will stay in the Marine Corps. "I just woke up this morning. It was kind of like the weekend's here, relax. That's about as far as I've gotten," he said. "Definitely a day at a time." Ashby and his navigator, Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, 31, of Westbury, N.Y., face obstruction of justice charges over a missing videotape Schweitzer shot during the flight. They could get a year in prison if convicted. Schweitzer also is scheduled to stand trial March 22 on the same charges Ashby faced. Discusses verdict in Marine pilot case Web posted Mar. 09 at 05:48 PM Editor, The Chronicle: Re the March 5 ``Jury rules captain not guilty'' article on the trial of the Marine Aviator Capt. Richard Ashby: After theverdict was read a prosecutor, Maj. Stu Crouch, said to the relatives of the victims, ``I'm sorry.'' I have to ask Major Crouch, sorry for what? Is he sorry that Captain Ashby will not spend the rest of his life in prison? Is he sorry he may have to let others go without a trial? Is he sorry he may have to find someone else to be responsible for the accident? Is he sorry that eight officers of the jury were able to find a truth other than the one he presented? The jury broke with recent precedent. Not one member of the jury told us how he would vote before the trial began. They did not limit the number of witnesses to be heard. They did not set time limits for testimony. They were not told to be quiet or go to jail. By the telling of all the facts, a ``not guilty'' verdict was reached. Had the Marines tried O.J. Simpson, instead of Los Angeles County, and tried Bill Clinton, instead of the United States Senate, Major Crouch might have not had to feel ``sorry'' for losing a case to the truth. Charles F. Hafey, Augusta United States v. Ashby On February 3, 1998 a U.S. Marine EA-6B Prowler jet flying a low-altitude training mission near Cavalese, Italy struck a cable supporting a gondola transportation system operating across a wide valley. Twenty people died when the gondola fell, but the crew was able to land the damaged aircraft safely. Although the gondola cableway was not marked on the maps provided to the air crew and many other factors supported the actions taken by the crew, the government initiated court martial proceedings against the pilot and navigator. VISUAL FORENSICS was retained by the defense team to study the visual elements that contributed to the collision and to develop a computer simulation for purposes of trial. The trial began in February 1999, and on March 4, 1999, Capt. Richard Ashby was acquitted on all 20 counts of involuntary manslaughter. Within a few days of Capt. Ashby's acquittal, charges against Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, the plane's navigator. Posted here are some image samples from work on this case. Camp Lejeune, N.C. OC Marine pilot gets six months in prison By Estes Thompson Associated Press The Orange County Marine pilot acquitted of manslaughter in the Italian cable car tragedy was sentenced to six months in prison and dismissed from the corps Monday for helping destroy a videotape of the flight. Capt. Richard Ashby, 32, of Mission Viejo, Calif., became the first crewman go to prison in connection with the accident that killed 20 people. He could have gotten as much as 10 years behind bars from the military jury that convicted him last week of obstructing justice and conspiracy for his actions after the 1998 accident, in which his plane sliced through a ski cable in the Italian Alps. Ashby stood at attention when the sentence was read by the jury's foreman. There was no sound in the courtroom after the judge warned Ashby's family against outbursts. Ashby showed no emotion as he left the courthouse with his family and his lawyer. Prosecutors had asked the jury to sentence Ashby to two years in prison and throw him out of the service. During the trial, Ashby testified that he took the video out of his EA-6B Prowler anti-radar jet after the accident and later gave it to his navigator, Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, at Schweitzer's request. Schweitzer said he burned the tape. Ashby and Schweitzer had maintained that the tape, shot just before their jet entered the valley where it clipped the cable, contained no incriminating information. Prosecutors argued that the two got rid of the tape to block the investigation of the tragedy and that the footage might have shed light on the cause. Italian gondolas: And the U.S. Marines by Our Opinion 03-16-1999 JUSTICE IS swift in the United States military, and it is often fair. But many in Italy and throughout Europe thought that the acquittal of Marine Corps jet pilot Capt. Richard Ashby last week and the decision to drop charges against his navigator, Capt. Joseph Schwitzer, were miscarriages of justice. That kind of thinking is understandable, but it is flawed. To be sure, Capt. Ashby was flying too low when his jet sliced through a ski gondola cable sending some 20 people to their deaths. But the exhaustive trial showed clearly that his superiors bear responsibility for the tragedy as well. There were problems, for example, with the altimeter on Ashby’s plane. He was allowed to fly with unclear flight plans and with outdated maps. Capt. Ashby may have been a hot dog, but his commanders allowed him to be one and allowed him to fly with faulty equipment. The Italians want the captain to suffer for this. But the better remedy is for the United States military in Italy and in other places to implement reforms that will keep this sort of thing from happening again. That must be made clear to our allies. The last thing we need is to be seen as a country that totes an irresponsible military that has no regard for the safety of the citizens of the countries where we are guests. Already the Clinton administration has repaid the Italian government for the compensation it paid out to the victims’ families. The government has also said it will pay most of the claims that will come from the inevitable lawsuits that will arise from the incident. THAT MAKES good sense, and is good foreign policy. Now the military must make the changes that it needs to make to regain the trust of this key NATO ally. Former Amarilloan defends Marine client, verdict By ROBYN FOLLOWWILL Globe-News Staff Writer A lawyer who defended a Marine pilot in the Italian gondola accident that killed 20 people said his client's concern is with the families of the victims. "He (Capt. Richard Ashby) was heartbroken since the day of the accident and lives with that every day," said defense attorney Capt. Jon Shelburne, a former Amarillo resident. Shelburne said he was one of four members of Ashby's defense team since the day after the accident. Ashby was charged with flying recklessly in February 1998 after his jet sliced through a ski gondola cable in the Italian Alps. Ashby, who faced 206 years in prison if convicted, was acquitted of 20 involuntary manslaughter charges and other counts Thursday. Shelburne's primary responsibility was to question the Italian witnesses in the days and weeks after the accident because he lived in Italy. He and the other attorneys drafted certain motions, and he was in the courtroom during the trial, he said. Ashby took responsibility for flying the aircraft, but he didn't believe that there was any criminal responsibility, Shelburne said. "I think that when you look at all of the factors that led up to the accident itself, as the captain of that aircraft, he took responsibility for flying the plane," he said. There were a lot of areas where communications could have been better. The charts that are provided by the National Mapping Agency didn't have the gondola on them. The squadron could have communicated better with the ground, and operations at the Air Force base could have been better at getting information to the squadron, Shelburne said. But one thing that Ashby doesn't want to do is assign blame to anyone, Shelburne said. "It's impossible to start pointing fingers. There are just too many factors," he said. Going into the trial, the defense team felt good about the evidence, and they were sure that the truth would come out, Shelburne said. "We were very confident in the jury that they would weigh the evidence and make a fair decision," he said. Ashby still faces another court-martial on obstruction of justice charges for the disappearance of a videotape his navigator made during the flight. He could get a year in prison if convicted. Shelburne grew up in Amarillo and graduated from Amarillo High School. He went on to get a degree from the University of Dallas. He joined the Marine Corps while in law school at Texas Tech University and went on active duty in 1992. The Associated Press contributed to this report. [This message has been edited by oca (edited 09 November 2000).] 
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