US Marine pleads guilty in stabbing of fellow Marine

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – 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. 16 while 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.

Defence 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 was buried in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin.