The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
July 31, 2012

1st Soldier Court-Martialed in Hazing Death of Pvt Danny Chen Found Not Guilty of Negligent Homicide 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 
The first of eight U.S. soldiers court-martialed in the death of Army
Private Danny Chen has been found not guilty on the most serious offense
of causing Chen’s death through negligence — but has been
convicted on lesser charges. A 19-year-old Chinese American, Chen
allegedly took his own life just weeks after he was deployed to
Afghanistan last October. His family says Chen had been abused by
comrades on an almost daily basis, including racist hazing, with
soldiers throwing rocks at him, calling him ethnic slurs and forcing him
to do push-ups or hang upside down with his mouth full of water. All
eight accused soldiers were Chen’s superiors in rank. The first
soldier to stand trial, Sergeant Adam Michael Holcomb, was acquitted of
negligent homicide on Monday, but found guilty on two counts of
maltreatment and one count of assault consummated by battery. After the
verdict, Elizabeth Ou Yang of the Organization of Chinese Americans said
Holcomb should be discharged.

Elizabeth Ou Yang: "If you are going to send a strong signal to both our
community and to the community at large that there is no room, that
there is no room for any so-called superior who harbors racist feelings
to be in the Army, than you dishonorably discharge Sgt. Adam Holcomb
from the United States Army. He is a disgrace to the Army, he doesn't
represent the principles of respect that the Army so upholds."

 

.