Ashby’s Family, Friends Relieved by Jury’s Verdict

Marine Corps Capt. Richard Ashby’s friends and family members in Orange County expressed relief Thursday that his ordeal--and theirs--is over.

“It’s been terrible. It’s been quite a strain,” Bill Currier, Ashby’s grandfather, said.

“It’s my personal opinion that the government and the Marines have tried to pass the buck,” said Currier, 83, from the home in Mission Viejo that he shares with Carol Anderson, Ashby’s mother. “I think they were trying to find a scapegoat.”

After the acquittal was announced at about 9 a.m. PST, Currier’s phone began ringing, and the calls kept coming all day from reporters, friends and relatives, including Anderson. “She was so excited and full of joy,” Currier said. “She was practically in tears.”

Speaking later from the officers’ quarters at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where Ashby is stationed and where the court-martial was held, Anderson said she had spent a good portion of Thursday watching news reports on television and fielding calls and e-mail from well-wishers.

“We were fearful,” said Anderson, 56, a library specialist for the El Toro Marine School. “When you have the government against you with unlimited funds and resources and you’re just an ordinary schoolteacher, it’s frightening.”

Anderson said that she has seen changes in her son since the Feb. 3, 1998, incident when a jet Ashby was piloting sheared the cables of a gondola in the Italian Alps, sending 20 people to their deaths. “He’s quieter now,” she said.

Currier, too, said the tragedy weighs heavily on Ashby. “All the people that were killed, . . . I feel so sorry for them, and so does Richie. That really shook him up.”

Across the community where Ashby grew up, those who knew him expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the trial.

Bob Metz, who was principal of Mission Viejo High School when Ashby was a senior there in 1985, said, “He’s just one of those young people who stands out in your mind. . . . My recollection of him was that he was one fine young man that we can all be proud of.”

Family friend Don Rooten, 55, of Mission Viejo said he was relieved that Ashby was acquitted but recognizes that Ashby’s life has been changed forever.

“He’ll never forget what happened until the day he dies,” Rooten said. “He’ll have to learn how to deal with it.”