Former Marine Sentenced for Assault on R.I. College Athlete

A former Marine reservist avoided jail time and received a seven-year suspended sentence for felony assault plus probation for landing what prosecutors labeled a "sucker punch" on a Brown University basketball player in Rhode Island in 2013.

The Providence Journal reports 27-year-old Tory Lussier was sentenced Monday for the punch he landed on Joseph Sharkey, a backup guard for the Bears who was left near death and permanently injured after his head struck the pavement.

Prosecutors say the punch immediately followed a fight between two groups after a night of drinking in Providence. Witnesses testified that a shirtless Lussier hit Sharkey as he walked by him on the sidewalk.

Sharkey now suffers from long-term mental and physical impairments including scarring and seizures.

Lussier was found guilty in a September bench trial.