California ? A Marine convicted of kidnapping and conspiring to murder an Iraqi man told a military jury during his sentencing hearing Thursday that he wants to continue his service.

“I’ve never been good at anything until I came to the Marine Corps,” Cpl. Trent Thomas said. “It’s pretty obvious Michael Jordan was meant to play basketball. Tiger Woods was meant to play golf. The Marine Corps, it’s me.”

Thomas, a 25-year-old father of two, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole after being convicted Wednesday in the killing of the Iraqi man after a botched attempt to capture and kill a suspected insurgent in the village of Hamdania in April 2006.

The jury acquitted him of the most serious charge of premeditated murder, which carried a mandatory life sentence. He also was acquitted of making a false official statement, housebreaking and larceny.

The jury of three officers and six enlisted Marines will begin deliberating Thomas’ sentence today.

Prosecutors recommended he be sentenced to 15 years in prison with a dishonorable discharge and reduction in pay.