Guilty plea in soldier's hazing death

FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- A second soldier accused of driving an Asian-American Army private to suicide received a six-month prison sentence after pleading guilty Monday to reduced charges in a court-martial at Fort Bragg.

Spc. Ryan J. Offutt of Greenville, Pa., pleaded guilty to one count of hazing and two specifications of maltreatment in the death of 19-year-old Pvt. Danny Chen of Manhattan. Authorities say Chen shot himself last year in Afghanistan after being hazed over his ethnicity.

In exchange for his plea and a promise to testify against other soldiers allegedly involved in the death, other charges against Offutt were dropped. He was the second soldier whose case has come before a military judge.

Offutt also will be demoted to private and receive a bad conduct discharge. He faced several charges, including negligent homicide.

"Hazing and racial maltreatment that drives a soldier to his death warrants this strong sentence," said Elizabeth OuYang, New York chapter president of the Organization for Chinese Americans, an Asian-American civil rights group, in a statement released Monday.

The Fayetteville Observer reported that Offutt said he knew what he was doing to Chen was wrong. He said he mistreated the 19-year-old because he saw others doing the same. Offutt said he also suffered from a traumatic brain injury.

Last month, Sgt. Adam Holcomb was convicted of mistreating Chen, but he was acquitted of being a cause of Chen's death on Oct. 3. Holcomb was sentenced to 30 days in a military prison and other penalties.