From HamptonRoads.com of April 5, 2006
Navy SEAL not guilty of murder, jury says
After deliberating three hours over two days, a jury this morning acquitted Navy SEAL Ronald Gasper of murder for shooting to death fellow SEAL Bradley Jondahl.
Gasper, 31, shot Jondahl once in the stomach on July 31, 2004, after the two returned from a night of heavy drinking on Shore Drive to Gasper’s home in Bayside.
As the verdict was read, a gasp went up from the left side of the courtroom, where Gasper’s friends and relatives sat.Gasper clutched and hugged one of his defense attorneys, a longtime friend from Ohio.
At the same time, Jondahl’s family on the right side of the courtroom began weeping. They were led downstairs by a bailiff. A spokesman for the family said they want to talk about the trial later.
Gasper’s friends and relatives greeted him outside the courtroom with tearful hugs.
Gasper claimed the shooting was in self-defense. He said Jondahl was angry and drunk and had attacked him. He testified that Jondahl at one point put him into a chokehold and picked him up off the ground.
Prosecutors, however, argued that Gasper introduced a gun into a non-lethal fight – “a wrestling match,” as prosecutors called it -- and he was not justified in shooting Jondahl.
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