Army panel advises trial in suicide

Associated Press

KABUL

An investigative hearing has recommended that an American soldier, a native of Greenville, Pa., in Mercer County, be court-martialed over hazing that reportedly led to a fellow infantryman’s suicide in Afghanistan.

The hearing, however, dismissed the most-serious charge against him: involuntary manslaughter, the U.S. military said Monday.

Spc. Ryan Offutt is one of eight soldiers charged in the death of 19-year-old Pvt. Danny Chen, who shot himself Oct. 3 after what investigators say were weeks of physical abuse, humiliation and racial slurs.

Sgt. Adam M. Holcomb, 29, of Youngstown, also is one of the eight charged.

A native New Yorker of Chinese descent, Chen had been in Afghanistan only two months when he shot himself in a guardhouse at a remote outpost in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province.

His family has said investigators told them he was subjected to racial slurs and forced to do excessive sit-ups, push-ups, runs and sprints carrying sandbags.

Chen’s family members said Monday that they were upset the manslaughter charge was set aside.

The investigative hearing recommended that Offutt, 32, be court-martialed on charges including assault, negligent homicide and reckless endangerment, a statement from U.S. military said. The hearing ended Sunday at Kandahar Air Field, the sprawling base for U.S. and NATO operations in the south.

The panel, however, did not recommend trial for an additional charge of involuntary manslaughter, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The most-serious charge Offutt now faces is negligent homicide, which carries a prison sentence of up to three years.

The regional American military commander will make a final decision on any court-martial based on the hearing’s recommendations, the U.S. statement said.

Attorneys for Offutt could not immediately be contacted. Offutt joined the Army in 2006 and served 14 months in Iraq before being deployed to Afghanistan.

“It is not enough. He and all the suspects should be tried on the maximum charges possible because of what they did to Danny,” said Banny Che, a cousin of Chen’s.