SAN DIEGO (Legal Newsline) — The nonprofit news agency ProPublica claims the U.S. Navy has failed to make court records public in its case against a seaman accused of setting fire to the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard warship in San Diego in 2020.
ProPublica Inc., filed a complaint Sept. 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California against Commander Derek D. Butler, JAGC, USN, Vice Admiral Darse E. Crandall, Jr., JAGC, USN, Carols Del Toro, Caroline D. Krass and Lloyd J. Austin III, alleging First Amendment violations and other claims.
ProPublica alleges in its complaint that the United States Navy is denying timely public access to military court records in United States v. Mays, SR/E-1 USN, a case against Seaman Apprentice Ryan Mays, who is being accused of setting the fire that destroyed the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard warship in July of 2020. ProPublica claims the Navy is trying to keep numerous court records secret in the controversial prosecution of Mays.
Specifically, ProPublica alleges the court records being withheld include the Navy's own officer's report recommending the case lacked evidence as well as a motion by May's defense claiming the Navy failed to disclose those records and others that show safety failures leading up to the fire.
ProPublica further alleges that the Navy's policy of withholding the records from the public deprives the press and public of information needed to understand the proceedings and violates the First Amendment and common law rights of access to court proceedings and records.
ProPublica seeks a declaratory judgement, preliminary injunction and all other just relief. They are represented by Theodore Boutrous, Jr., Michael Dore, Jillian London and Marissa Mulligan of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Los Angeles and Attorney Sarah Matthews at ProPublica in New York.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California case number 3:22-CV-01455-BTM-KSC