Assault Charges Against Flier in Tailhook Case Are Dropped

Criminal assault charges against another Navy aviator in the Tailhook incident have been dropped, the Pentagon announced Thursday, leaving only one man still facing a court-martial for allegedly attacking a woman during the group’s 1991 convention in Las Vegas.

Assault charges filed against Cmdr. Gregory E. Tritt, 43, were dismissed after a second senior military legal officer asked to review the case determined that “there was no basis for the evidence against him,” Pentagon officials said.

However, Tritt still is facing court-martial on lesser charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and making false statements under oath.

The dismissals mean that only Lt. David Samples, 28, awaits court-martial on assault charges in the Tailhook scandal. But his case has been postponed until the U.S. Court of Military Appeals in Washington rules on whether he was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for cooperating with investigators.

A third assault case, brought against Marine Capt. Gregory J. Bonam, was dismissed when it was shown that he was not the assailant identified by Navy Lt. Paula A. Coughlin.

Earlier this year, the Defense Department inspector general’s office said that 140 men had been involved in officer misconduct in the Tailhook gathering, and that as many as 83 women had been assaulted. Many of the cases have resulted in non-punitive reprimands.

Tritt, a 20-year Navy veteran who served as a squadron commander at Whidbey Island, Wash., had been charged with touching an unknown number of women, including a female Navy ensign who said she was grabbed on the buttocks. But officials said that, when a second legal officer reviewed the case, he found there were significant shortcomings with the evidence, including the identification of Tritt.

Officials declined to elaborate.

But Tritt’s defense attorneys have said that problems developed in the case after many of the alleged victims were unable to positively identify him as their assailant.