Navy:Murder Charge Filed inBlack Same Gender Loving Seaman's Death

Navy: Murder Charge Filed in SGL Seaman's Death

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/23/august-provost-gay-sailor_n_244063.html
Published: 07/23/09 08:26 PM

August Provost, Murdered Black Same Gender Loving Sailor

SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Navy says a sailor has been charged in military court with murder and other offenses in the shooting death of a gay San Diego seaman.

Petty Officer Jonathan Campos of Lancaster, Calif., was charged Thursday in connection to last month's fatal shooting of Seaman August Provost of Houston.

Provost was shot multiple times as he stood guard at Camp Pendleton on June 30. The 29-year-old's family believes the shooting may have been a hate crime. The family says Provost complained of being harassed about his sexuality in the days before his death.

Navy officials have rejected those claims and say there is no record of Provost filing a harassment report.

They say Campos, a 32-year-old gas system technician, is being held at the brig and is cooperating with investigators.

UPDATE (Wednesday, July 29th, 2009):
This article was sent to me and so I'm doing a follow-up with y'all! Click the title below which is hyperlinked.
Family Says Closeted Gay Sailor Killed Provost
DallasVoice.com - The Premier Media Source for LGBT North Texas


UPDATE (Sunday, August 2nd, 2009):
Suspect in Houston Sailor's Death Commits Suicide

Suspect in Houston sailor's death commits suicide
By CINDY GEORGE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Aug. 1, 2009, 6:25PM

The sailor charged in the June death of a Houston seaman at a San Diego military base committed suicide in custody, authorities said.

Petty Officer Jonathan Campos, 32, was found unresponsive Friday afternoon in his brig cot at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

Campos was alive when he was checked at 11:45 a.m., but was unresponsive when found about 35 minutes later, a military statement said. The apparent cause of death was self-inflicted asphyxiation. He was pronounced dead at 1:15 p.m. Friday.

Campos, of Lancaster, Calif., was accused in the shooting death of August Provost III, a sailor from Houston's Acres Homes neighborhood who was gay. Provost, 29, was killed June 30 while on duty in a guard shack at the Southern California military camp.

After the slaying, Provost's remains were set on fire in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence, Navy officials said.
Arrested for DWI

Last week, Campos was charged with 16 criminal offenses, including murder, unlawfully handling a deceased individual by setting the remains on fire, stealing military property and soliciting a San Diego civilian to kill a fellow sailor. He had been in Navy custody since July 1 and faced a hearing in military court, similar to a grand jury, in the coming weeks.

Provost's family has said other sailors had been harassing him before his death, but the Navy has insisted that there is no evidence the slaying was a hate crime.

Provost and Campos were assigned to the same command, which included about 500 military personnel, but officials have said there is no indication that they had a close association.

Campos had been arrested by police in Imperial Beach, Calif., and charged with driving under the influence about 10 days before military officials say he went on a two-day rampage on the base that involved Provost's death.

Campos also faced charges for using illegal psilocybin mushrooms as well as breaking into another service member's home where $5,400 worth of electronics, jewelry and a .45-caliber pistol was stolen, military officials said.

Campos enlisted in the Navy in December 2001. Provost entered the Navy in March 2008, and reported to Camp Pendleton last September.