THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 TAG: 9606060350
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 64 lines
After a jury convicted a Navy SEAL trainee of murdering their daughter, Al and Delores Evans lashed out at the Navy Wednesday for failing to weed out bad seeds.
The convicted man, Billy Joe Brown, was a Navy SEAL trainee when he and a fellow SEAL trainee, Dustin A. Turner, were charged with killing Jennifer L. Evans in June 1995.
After the verdict, Evans' parents said there is something wrong with the Navy's selection process that allowed Brown to join the service and the SEALs.
``It's just hard to believe he was part of the Navy's elite, that that's the quality of Navy SEAL trainees,'' Delores Evans said outside the courtroom. ``It's hard to believe someone like this could get this far without being screened out or kicked out early.''
Al Evans said he blamed the Navy for poor background checks and selection criteria. He said the service is good at testing candidates' physical ability and determination, but not their character.
``They have to test whether that determination is a determination for evil or not, and the Navy is not doing that,'' Al Evans said.
``Very desperately, the Navy needs to get its act together. I blame this on the Navy and those in power in the Navy for not cleaning their house, starting years ago and right up to now. They have neglected their duty and they have betrayed the Navy and their country.''
During the trial, testimony revealed a seamy side among some Navy SEAL trainees. One witness, a fellow SEAL, testified about a group sex session in a Navy barracks in Coronado, Calif., that he said Brown and Turner participated in. It involved several men and one woman.
The witness said it was ``standard operating procedure'' for Brown and Turner to pick up, and talk about picking up, women for group sex. Other witnesses also said Brown and Turner enjoyed recruiting women for three-way sex.
Prosecutors argued that Turner had picked up Jennifer Evans at an Oceanfront bar for sex with him and Brown, then the men killed her in Turner's car.
In an interview after the verdict, Al Evans accused Brown and Turner of shaming their military service.
``These defendants have betrayed a very large number of people in the Navy,'' he said. ``They have betrayed all honorable men and women in the Navy who are serving their country for the right reasons.''
Evans said he also blames the nation's criminal justice system for helping produce men like Brown and Turner.
``Thank God the right message has been sent this time. For the last 30 years the wrong message has been sent,'' Evans said. ``It started around 1964. There's been a daily parade of messages sent out of every courtroom in this county, in increasing quantity as the years go by, that gives people with a criminal thrust the idea that they can get away with it. It's a real concern.
``These defendants have grown up with this message their entire lives. They've accepted it because they've heard it often enough,'' Evans said. ``If Jennifer's death could contribute to the right message, I'm very glad for that.''
For the parents personally, however, Wednesday's verdict brought no great relief.
``A needless, senseless death is never justified or rectified, so there's no great satisfaction in this,'' Delores Evans said. ``Nothing will bring Jennifer back. There will always be this hole in our hearts.''
KEYWORDS: MURDER KIDNAPPING STRANGULATION
TRIAL VERDICT by CNB