
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 28, 1993                   TAG: 9305280058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: YOKOSUKA, JAPAN                                LENGTH: Short

SAILOR GETS LIFE SENTENCE IN KILLING OF GAY SHIPMATE

A military jury sentenced sailor Terry Helvey to life in prison Thursday for killing homosexual shipmate Allen Schindler, concluding a case that fueled debate over gays in the U.S. military.

When the sentence was read, the victim's mother, Dorothy Hajdys, sobbed: "Thank you." Helvey was impassive.

Helvey, 21, of Westland, Mich., had pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit great bodily injury in the Oct. 27 killing. The plea was part of a pretrial agreement under which a possible charge of premeditated murder, a crime punishable by death, was dropped.

Prosecutors had demanded a life sentence. The defense declined to recommend a specific sentence, but urged that 20 years be "a baseline for discussion."

The case had gone to the panel of eight Navy and Marine officers earlier Thursday.

Helvey will be turned over to federal authorities. The military said there was no specific date for when - or if - he might be eligible for parole.

The case received widespread attention, coming as Washington debates lifting a ban on homosexuals in the military.

Schindler, a 22-year-old shipmate of Helvey's on the USS Belleau Wood, was beaten to death in a public restroom near the ship's home port in Sasebo in southern Japan.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB