2nd Sailor Joined in Fatal Beating of Gay : Japan: But he received only a four-month term. Documents show that two attackers stalked victim.

Immediately after a court-martial sentenced Apprentice Terry M. Helvey, 21, to life in prison for beating to death a gay shipmate, the U.S. Navy confirmed Thursday that a second sailor participated in the beating but was unwittingly sentenced to only four months in jail.

Navy Airman Charles E. Vins, 21, who was convicted last November of resisting arrest and failing to report a crime, kicked Seaman Allen R. Schindler, 23, four times while he lay on the floor of a public restroom in Sasebo, Japan, last Oct. 27 during the fatal beating administered by Helvey.

The disclosure came in a series of court documents and statements released by Cmdr. Mike Todd, public affairs officer for U.S. Naval Forces, Japan.

Although the documents had been given to a jury at the start of deliberations Monday to determine Helvey’s sentence, only oblique references were made to them during the proceedings.

The documents revealed for the first time that Helvey had stalked Schindler, following his shipmate into the restroom with the intention of beating him.

Schindler was awaiting discharge from the Navy after telling his superiors that he was gay. Although Helvey insisted Wednesday that he did not kill him because of his sexual orientation, he repeatedly told interrogators that he hated homosexuals.

The only reference during the sentencing proceedings to more than one assailant came when a pathologist testified that Schindler’s injuries were so severe that they resembled damage inflicted by more than one person.

Vins, whom Helvey previously described as an onlooker during the beating, admitted in a signed statement that he had kicked Schindler. But his confession came after his conviction on other charges and after the Navy had granted him immunity from further prosecution in exchange for testimony against Helvey.

Vins told investigators that Helvey happened to notice Schindler walking alone in downtown Sasebo, suggested that the two of them harass Schindler, then followed Schindler into the restroom.

“Vins’ testimony was the only evidence that Helvey had stalked Schindler prior to the attack,” Todd said in a statement. It was essential to convict Helvey of premeditated murder, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of death, he said. That was the charge filed against Helvey in January.

In a plea bargain, Helvey pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of “intent to commit great bodily injury,” and Vins was not called to testify.

The documents made public by Todd gave details for the first time of exactly what happened Oct. 27. For Schindler, it was a night at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. For Helvey, it was a movie followed by two hours of drinking in a park with Vins and two other shipmates from the Belleau Wood.

About 11 p.m., Helvey and Vins left a bar and saw Schindler walking alone. They followed Schindler through a park and into the restroom. Helvey stood at a urinal next to Schindler, and when Schindler looked at him, Helvey “struck him hard in the face with his right fist,” according to a “stipulation of fact” that Helvey signed. Schindler said nothing to Helvey, “nor (did) he in any way provoke the accused,” the stipulation said.

Two passing sailors witnessed the scene and summoned shore patrolmen. Helvey and Vins fled but were later arrested aboard ship.