Raleigh, North Carolina: A Marine Corps drill instructor has been sentenced by a military jury to 10 years behind bars after being convicted of hazing and tormenting young recruits, include a Muslim-American who later killed himself.
The eight-member jury meted out that punishment Friday to Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Felix, a 34-year-old Iraq veteran who jurors found had abused more than a dozen trainees at the Marine boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina.
The jury said Felix zeroed in on three Muslim-American recruits especially. The drill instructor ordered two of them to climb into an industrial clothes dryer, spinning one of them around in the scalding machine until he renounced his faith.
Defence attorney Navy Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Bridges declined to discuss the conviction and sentencing.