Chinese students get prison terms

Three students from China were sentenced on Wednesday to years in prison after prosecutors said they stripped, beat and burned two classmates.

The defendants and victims were "parachute kids" who studied in Southern California while their parents remained back home.

Yunyao "Helen" Zhai was sentenced to 13 years behind bars; Yuhan "Coco" Yang got 10 years; and Xinlei "John" Zhang received a six-year term. All three apologized in court for their actions.

The 19-year-olds were accused of bullying a 16-year-old girl who was punched and slapped last March at a restaurant and a park in Rowland Heights, east of Los Angeles.

Two days later, prosecutors said, they kidnapped an 18-year-old classmate and took her to a park where she was stripped, beaten, punched, kicked, spat on, burned with cigarettes and forced to eat her own hair during a five-hour assault.

The 16-year-old was attacked because Zhai felt she had disrespected her, and the other woman was attacked because of disputes over a boy and an unpaid restaurant bill, investigators said.

The defendants pleaded no contest last month to kidnapping and assault. A charge of torture, which carries a potential life sentence, was dropped.