Fort Hood, Texas ? An Army sergeant charged in the drowning death of an Iraqi civilian was acquitted Friday of involuntary manslaughter but convicted of assault.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins was charged in connection with a January 2004 incident near Samarra, Iraq, when two Iraqi curfew violators were forced into the cold Tigris River at gunpoint by U.S. soldiers.

Prosecutors say one of the Iraqis drowned, which the defense denied.

The jury convicted Perkins of assault consummated by battery in Zaidoun Fadel Hassoun’s death, which carries a maximum sentence of six months.

Perkins, with 14 years of military service, was found guilty of aggravated assault on Marwan Hassoun, who survived. His sentence ranges from no punishment to 11 1/2 years.