| A military judge has found 27-year old Staff Sergeant Nadya Lopez not guilty of negligent homicide in the drowning death of 19-year-old Jason Tharp from Sutton.
A local TV station had filmed a DI physicially striking Tharp to get him back in the water, one day before he died.
Prosecutors called more than a dozen witnesses as part of the two-day military trial, while Tharp's parents openly wept through the proceedings.
Witnesses said they felt like Tharp died because he had just given up, not because of unsafe conditions.
The person who performed the autopsy said that she did not think Lopez was to blame for Tharp's death, echoing sentiments of ten military instructors who testified on the DIs behalf.
Tharp died February 8th, 2005 while trying to tread water in approximately eight feet of water.
He had his head under water several times while in the pool, although it was not under water more than a few seconds, according to the report.
By the time he was pulled out of the water he had stopped breathing and had a faint pulse. CPR was started and he began to cough up water. He was taken to Beaufort Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
During his five weeks of training Tharp had mailed his dad Johnny Tharp seven letters saying he had made a mistake and wanted out of the Marines. He had enlisted as a way to pay for college.
A local TV station shot footage of a drill instructor physically striking Tharp the day before his death. Such contact is prohibited.
Tharp said his son complained he had been singled out by drill instructors because he couldn't keep up with the rigorous basic training.
"He never hurt nobody. He'd do anything anybody asked him," said his father.
Tharp was seen on the WIS-TV video refusing to get into the water and a Marine sergeant explains "He's just afraid because he is not able to do the swim correctly right now, and he just wants to leave and go home."
After 20 minutes of trying to coax Tharp into the pool, the drill instructor turned physical.
"Basically, it's an assault," said Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice.
| 
