CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) – A Marine reservist convicted of abusing inmates in Iraq asked a jury to allow him to remain in the Corps, saying the only two things he loved more were his wife and daughter.

Sgt. Gary Pittman was sentenced Friday to 60 days of hard labor and demoted to the rank of private. He faced a maximum sentence of nine months in prison and a dishonorable discharge.

Pittman stood stoically as the verdict was read and left without speaking to reporters.

“This was about as light a punishment as they could give,” said Pittman’s civilian defense attorney, John Tranberg. “This was a tremendous outcome.”

Earlier Friday, Pittman asked the jury of nine Marine officers to allow him to remain in the Corps. In military court, the jury, not the judge, sentences the defendant.

“There’s two things I love on this earth more than the Marine Corps. That’s my wife, Cheryl, and my daughter,” he said before wiping away tears.

Prosecutor Maj. Leon Francis had told the jury to send a message about prisoner abuse to U.S. troops in a war zone: “Don’t try it because the hammer’s going to fall.”

The same panel convicted Pittman on Thursday of one count each of dereliction of duty and abuse. He was cleared of two other charges, including abusing a 52-year-old Iraqi man who died in custody.

The case was the first court-martial known to be connected to the death of a prisoner in Iraq.

Thursday’s verdict came after a nine-day trial and four hours of deliberation.

The 40-year-old reservist, who is a federal prison guard in New York in his civilian life, was activated last year and sent to Camp Whitehorse in southern Iraq.

Pittman testified that he never assaulted a prisoner. His attorney said reservist guards used only the force necessary to handle the inmates at Camp Whitehorse.

AP-ES-09-04-04 0607EDT