A Marine corporal who pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and reckless driving in a seven-ton truck rollover accident on the base that killed another Marine, has been sentenced to a year in the brig, military officials said.
Cpl. Bin Guo was sentenced last month to 4 1/2 years in prison by a military judge, the Marine Corps Times reported Tuesday, Nov. 7. The sentence was reduced to one year in a pre-trial agreement Guo reached with prosecutors.
Military defense attorney Maj. Nelson Candelario told Marine Corps Times that Guo will not receive any punitive discharge under the terms of the agreement.
Cpl. Bryan Michael Lauw, 21, of Denham Springs, La., died in the accident that occurred in September 2015. Fourteen other Marines were injured.
Lauw was assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division. He joined the Marine Corps in June 2012 and served as an anti-tank missleman.
Marines in the accident and the parents of Lauw testified at Guo’s sentencing Oct. 30 and 31.
The accident occurred when the Marines were being transported in the truck known as a Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement and were returning from a routine training exercise, officials said at the time.
Military.com reported that Guo had been accused of failing to slow down at a turn, causing the truck to roll over. A police report could not determine if the truck’s brakes were working before the deadly accident. In January, a preliminary hearing officer decided not to charge Guo, but the 1st Marine Division commander at the time overruled him.
The non-combat accident is one in a series that have left Marines killed or injured at Camp Pendleton.
The rate of Marine on-duty training related mishaps causing injury or death has fluctuated over the years, but ground and aviation mishaps per 100,000 Marines this year is 10.49, up about 60 percent from 2014, according to data from the Naval Safety Center.
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