A U.S. Marine has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of an 18-year-old fellow Marine at a Southern California base.
The Orange County Register reports Pfc. Raymond Begay was sentenced Wednesday to seven years of confinement in a brig on the base.
Last month the government agreed to withdraw a murder charge in exchange for Begay's guilty plea.
Ethan Barclay-Weberpal was stabbed Jan. 16while sitting in formation in bleachers at the School of Infantry at Camp Pendleton, California. He said he was playing with the knife because he was bored.
Defense lawyers had argued that the death was a tragic accident. Begay said he bought the knife days before and did not realize how sharp it was.
Barclay-Weberpal graduated from Almont High School in Lapeer County last May. He enlisted in the Marine Corps two months later.
