A Marine will spend one year in the brig after pleading guilty to charges stemming from an incident Sept. 10, 2015, at Camp Pendleton, California, in which a 7-ton truck he was driving rolled over, killing one Marine and injuring another 18.
Cpl. Bin Guo pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and reckless driving causing serious injury, said his military defense attorney, Maj. Nelson Candelario. Marines involved in the accident and the parents of Cpl. Bryan Lauw, who was killed in the rollover, testified at Guo’s sentencing on Oct. 30-31, Candelario said.
Although a military judge sentenced Guo to four-and-a-half years in prison, Guo will spend no more than one year in the Camp Pendleton brig per a pretrial agreement he reached with prosecutors, Candelario said.
RELATED
“The way that it normally works is the judge doesn’t know what the pretrial agreement is,” Candelario explained. “So, the Marine could get better than the pretrial agreement. If the judge sentenced him to less than a year, for instance, then the Marine would serve the lesser of the two.”
Under his plea agreement, Guo will not receive any kind of punitive discharge, Candelario said. Guo will most likely get a general discharge, Candelario said.
Guo had been accused of failing to slow down at a turn, causing the truck to roll over, Military.com reported in March. 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 Marines in the truck were with the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and were returning from the rifle range from their annual rifle qualification. Lauw, 21, died at the scene. Six other Marines were initially listed in critical condition.
