North Carolina ? A soldier found dead last summer complained about the price of beer and got in a fight at a bar before seven members of his own unit punched, choked and restrained him, a paratrooper testified at a hearing Friday.

Sgt. Mitchell Lafortune testified during an Article 32, similar to a civilian grand jury, for five of seven soldiers charged with involuntary manslaughter in Pfc. Luke Brown’s July death. The other two are scheduled to appear Feb. 27. The division commander will decide whether to convene a formal trial, or court-martial.

Defense attorney Todd Connormon, who represents 24-year-old Spc. Charles B. DeLong, one of those charged, called the situation “a tragedy,” and said the soldiers were trying to take care of a friend.

He said he saw the soldiers “aggressively assault” Brown in a patch of woods after the group left a Fayetteville bar early July 20. When the men drove him to the barracks on Fort Bragg, Lafortune said he thought Brown was dead because he was pale and his eyes were closed.