IN BRIEF

GAMBLING DEBTS

Woman convicted in Dion case back in court

A woman convicted of extorting Celine Dion's husband returned to a Las Vegas court Thursday and pleaded guilty to petit larceny in a case involving her gambling debts.

Yun Sung, 52, appeared before District Judge Michelle Leavitt and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor.

Leavitt sentenced her to six months in jail but gave her six months of credit for time she already has spent in custody.

Sung and her husband, Ae Kwon, are serving prison terms of up to nine years for trying to extort Dion's husband, Rene Angelil, out of millions of dollars in 2003.

The extortion scheme involved a claim by Sung that Angelil raped her in an Imperial Palace hotel room in 2000. Angelil denied having sex with Sung and has never faced criminal charges in connection with the allegation.

MARINE CORPS INSTRUCTOR

Sergeant sentenced for abusing recruits

A military jury in San Diego sentenced a Marine drill instructor Thursday to six months in the brig and a bad-conduct discharge for abusing recruits in a case that prosecutors hoped would reassure trainees that they won't be abused at boot camp.

Sgt. Jerrod Glass also received a reduction in rank to private and pay forfeiture. He had faced a maximum sentence of 10 years of confinement.

Former colleagues lined up to hug Glass and shake his hand after the verdict was read.

Prosecutors had argued that Glass, 25, acted outside Marine Corps regulations as a drill instructor, and that he violated policy by abusing the recruits.

Defense attorneys argued Glass, who had only recently graduated as a drill instructor when the incidents occurred, was only doing what has been previously condoned and implied by other senior drill instructors.