Navy SEAL Wins Appeal of Sentence in Soldier’s Hazing Death

Army Green Beret Logan Melgar, who died from non-combat related injuries in Mali in June 2017, in this undated photo. U.S. Army via AP

NORFOLK, Va.—A military appeals court has ordered a new sentencing hearing for a U.S. Navy SEAL who got 10 years in prison for his role in the hazing death of a U.S. Army Green Beret while the men served in Africa.

Prosecutors failed to disclose that a U.S. Marine who testified against the SEAL—and who participated in the hazing—had asked for clemency in exchange for his testimony, the court ruled. The SEAL’s defense attorneys missed the chance to question the Marine about a “potential motive to misrepresent events.”