Army sergeant acquitted of negligent murder in soldier's death

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - A military jury found a U.S. Army sergeant not guilty on Monday of a negligent murder charge stemming from the suicide of a Chinese-American soldier who officials say endured hazing and racial slurs.

Sergeant Adam Holcomb, 30, was the first of eight soldiers to face a court-martial in connection with Private Danny Chen's death last October.

The military panel who heard Holcomb's case in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, found him guilty on charges of maltreatment and assault, but acquitted him of both negligent murder and harassment.

Chen, 19, killed himself by gunshot in a guard tower in southern Afghanistan, where military prosecutors said the weeks of physical mistreatment and racial harassment he encountered from his superiors pushed him to take his own life.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

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