Gerald Leon Ray III, a former commissary agency employee in South Korea, was sentenced June 27, 2024, to one year and eight months in prison for throwing a single punch that seriously injured a U.S. soldier in South Korea in July 2020. (Joshua Magbanua/U.S. Air Force)
An Air Force veteran and former Defense Department civilian employee was sentenced this week to a year and eight months in prison for punching a U.S. soldier in South Korea so hard that prosecutors say he could have killed him.
Gerald Leon Ray III, 27, of Lathrop, Calif., pleaded guilty in March to assault resulting in serious bodily injury. He was sentenced Thursday by District Judge Daniel Calabretta in Sacramento, Calif., nearly four years after the crime.
Prosecutors sought a sentence of two years and nine months, in large part based on the damage Ray inflicted on the victim, who was referred to in court documents as Mr. Hibbler.
Hibbler suffered a broken jaw and a brain hemorrhage, and had to be placed in a medically induced coma. His long-term injuries include a seizure disorder, almost daily migraines, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to court documents.
In a sentencing memorandum addressed to Calabretta, Ray expressed remorse, submitted letters of support and asked for a prison term of a year and a day, followed by 36 months of supervised release.
Air Force investigators determined that Hibbler instigated the fight, which happened July 26, 2020, in Pyeongtaek, near Osan Air Base and the U.S. Army’s Camp Humphreys, according to court documents.
At the time of the assault, Ray was employed by the Defense Commissary Agency at Osan and previously served in the Air Force for five years.
Hibbler, who was hit with a single punch to the face, may have died without immediate medical attention, the Justice Department said in a statement Thursday.
Ray was arrested in October 2021 in Germany, where he was working part time at a club on a U.S. military base in the Kaiserslautern area after leaving South Korea, according to court documents.
He was flown to the United States and originally faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
The case against Ray fell under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which establishes U.S. jurisdiction over certain offenses committed abroad by, among others, civilian employees of the armed forces.
Hibbler began his military service in October 2019 and arrived in South Korea six days before the assault, according to prosecutors. He had to be medically discharged, ending his dreams of becoming a drill sergeant and an officer, court papers state.
In one letter to the judge, Ray said that on the night of the assault, he and his friend Trent Hudson were talking outside a restaurant in what is called the Opera District.
Hibbler was in the same area with a friend, who kicked over a half-full glass bottle of soda belonging to Hudson, Ray wrote, adding that Hibbler then pulled out his phone and started recording, using profanities to provoke a reaction from them.
The situation escalated and Ray eventually stepped in to punch Hibbler, who had approached Hudson with closed fists, according to the letter. Ray said he threw the punch to stop the fight and protect his friend.
“Because Gerald is not an experienced fighter, he did not consider the risks of striking someone standing over pavement, or the level of force he put into the punch,” according to court documents.
