THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 15, 1994 TAG: 9407150531
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DEROCHI, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
A disgruntled sailor who blamed the Navy for a failed marriage and a stalled career was convicted Thursday of tampering with the destroyer Comte de Grasse in an effort to get even with his command.
Mark T. Jones, a gas turbine mechanic from Detroit, was found guilty of intentionally destroying government property in what has been called the most serious Navy tampering case since the Vietnam War.
Jones, 23, will be sentenced this morning on both the Comte de Grasse incident and for a separate drug charge he pleaded guilty to in January. He faces 12 years in prison.
The decision was announced late Thursday afternoon following nearly four hours of deliberations by a court-martial panel of eight enlisted men and officers.
Jones, a short man with thick brown hair, said nothing as the verdict was announced. He was escorted from the room by bailiffs and taken to a room where he met privately with his mother.
The verdict capped a four-day trial at NorfolkNaval Base where the issue at times stretched beyond the guilt or innocence of Jones to the practices aboard the Comte de Grasse.
A key question that went unanswered was how Jones, a petty officer third class, got access to the ship's reduction gear, a highly sensitive area that is supposed to be off-limits. Testimony revealed as many as seven keys to the secured area were floating around the ship, including one found by Jones in the destroyer's log room.
According to investigators, Jones used the key to dump bolts, nuts and shackles into the gear on Jan. 11 - the day before the destroyer was set to deploy to the Mediterranean for six months. He then threw the key off a pier on his way out of the naval base.
He went to visit a friend at a Dunkin' Donuts in Virginia Beach and told her what he had done. He returned to the base the next morning - the day the ship was to deploy - and passed out doughnuts to his shipmates as they struggled to figure out why the gears weren't working.
``It is almost impossible to conceive how somebody would have the absolute malicious intent to do something like that, to deliberately damage a United States war ship,'' said prosecutor Damian Hansen in his closing argument. ``We're not talking about a $25 oil and grease job here.
``We're talking about thousands and thousands of dollars just to get this ship underway and $2.1 million to get it back to what it was.''
But defense attorney Greg McCormack disputed the Navy's damage estimates and succeeded in getting the panel to convict Jones for only $630,000 worth of the damage to the ship.
The amount does not affect the conviction, but may indicate a lighter sentence for the sailor.
McCormack was not as successful when he repeated his client's claims of innocence, insisting the Navy had the wrong man, despite a nine-page confession Jones gave agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
McCormack said Jones gave the sworn statement because he was tired of being hounded by investigators and he thought it would be an easy ticket out of the service.
``It's extremely easy for you to convict this young man,'' McCormack told the panel in his closing argument.
``Hell, he has made some very, very damaging statements.
``But guess what happens if you get the wrong guy? Guess who is still on the ship?''
Jones, whose sentencing is set for 9 a.m., is the only sailor to be criminally charged for the damage to the Comte de Grasse.
Five other crew members received nonpunitive letters of reprimand for their roles in the incident.
KEYWORDS: SABOTAGE VANDALISM TRIAL by CNB