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

DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993                   TAG: 9308260016
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

NAVY REOPENS 5 TAILHOOK CASES 3 PANELS TO INVESTIGATE SENIOR OFFICERS

The Navy appointed three fact-finding panels to again review the cases of the five officers who attended the 1991 Tailhook Association convention, where dozens of women said they were molested by drunken aviators.

Cmdr. John Tull, a spokesman for Vice Adm. J. Paul Reason, said the three panels will convene starting next week at the Norfolk Naval Base to gather evidence. Reason is the Navy's top authority on Tailhook matters.

Tull would not disclose any allegations involving the officers.

An attorney who represents two of the aviators targeted in the sexual assault investigation called the decision "vindictive."

"I think it's time to let some of these guys go," said Robert Rae, who represents Cmdrs. Robert C. Yakeley and Gregory E. Peairs. "It's time to just kind of give up."

Yakeley is stationed at the Naval Air Systems Command in Washington. Peairs is slated to become executive officer of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.

The other three officers being investigated are Capt. Frederic G. Ludwig Jr., based at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., and president of the Tailhook Association of naval aviators at the time of the 1991 convention; Capt. Richard F. Braden, commander of the Airborne Early Warning Wing Pacific Staff; and Cmdr. Robert E. Stumpf, commander of the Blue Angels.

Also Wednesday, a military judge dismissed one of two assault charges against a Navy commander facing court-martial in the Tailhook investigation.

The judge, Capt. William T. Vest, allowed the other assault charge to remain against Cmdr. Gregory E. Tritt.

Tritt, 43, also faces charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and making a false official statement. His trial is set for Oct. 12.

The assault charge that was dismissed alleged that Tritt touched women, "whose names are unknown, on the buttocks with his hands."

Robert Rae, Tritt's attorney, said the charge was too vague, because the only thing close to identifying a victim was a witness description of someone thin with reddish-brown hair and "taller than most women."

Vest agreed, but refused to throw out a conduct-unbecoming charge using similar language. Those charges do not require specifying the victim, the judge said.

In the remaining assault charge, the victim was identified. She testified at a pretrial hearing in July.