QUANTICO, Va. (AP) - Three Marine Corps drill instructors accused of failing to obey orders and mistreating recruits at boot camp in Parris Island will go on trial this spring.
Staff Sgt. Matthew Bacchus, Staff Sgt. Jose Lucena-Martinez and Sgt. Riley Gress were arraigned Friday at special courts-martial at Quantico Marine Corps Base. Trial dates were set for March and April.
The drill instructor who oversaw all three, Staff Sgt. Antonio Burke, faced a preliminary hearing Thursday, in which recruits testified they were called homophobic slurs and forced to do calisthenics in a dusty building.
The Marine Corps launched its investigation after the March death of recruit Raheel Siddiqui, who fell from a barracks stairwell following an altercation with an unidentified drill instructor.
None of those arraigned Friday were connected to Siddiqui’s death.
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