Thirteen people were charged Wednesday for their roles in the hazing death of Florida A&M university drum major who was severely beaten in what appears to be one of the biggest college hazing cases ever.
The charges were announced more than five months after 26-year-old Robert Champion died aboard a chartered bus parked outside an Orlando hotel following a performance against a rival school.
The case has exposed a harsh tradition among marching bands at some colleges around the U.S.
Mr Champion was severely beaten by band members in November and had with bruises on his chest, arms, shoulder and back, authorities said.
Witnesses told emergency dispatchers Mr Champion was vomiting before he was found unresponsive aboard the bus.
State Attorney Lawson Lamar said 11 of the 13 people will face a hazing resulting death charge, a third-degree felony. If convicted, they could face up to nearly six years in prison. The other two people will face a misdemeanor charges.
The names of those charged will not be released until they are all arrested, Mr Lamar said. It was also not immediately clear whether they were all band members.
Legal experts had predicted prosecutors may file more serious charges like manslaughter and second-degree murder.
The Champion family attorney, Christopher Chestnut, said they were disappointed.
'They had hoped for more serious charges. They were hoping for a stronger message. He was beaten to death,' he said.
Mr Champion's parents have sued the bus company owner, claiming in a lawsuit that the bus driver stood guard outside the bus while the hazing took place. The bus company owner initially said the bus driver was helping other band members with their equipment when the hazing took place.
Witnesses in the Mr Champion case have told his parents he might have been targeted because he opposed the hazing, the parents' attorney has said. It has also been suggested to them that Mr Champion was targeted because he was gay and a candidate for chief drum major.
The lawsuit described two types of hazing that took place on the bus. During the first, pledges of a band clique known as 'Bus C' ran from the front to the back of the bus while other band members slapped, kicked and hit them. A pledge who fell was stomped and dragged to the front of the bus to run again.
In a ritual known as 'the hot seat,' a pillow case was placed over the pledge's nose and mouth while the pledge was forced to answer questions. If a pledge got a right answer, the pillow case was removed briefly; a pledge with a wrong answer was given another question without a chance to take a breath, the lawsuit said.
FAMU has suspended the band and launched a task force to recommend steps it could take to curtail hazing.
In spite of that, prosecutors didn't think they had enough evidence to pursue more serious charges against the perpetrators.
'The testimony obtained to date does not support a charge of murder, in that it does not contain the elements of murder,' Mr Lamar said.
'We can prove participation in hazing and a death. We do not have a blow or a shot or a knife thrust that killed Mr. Champion.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-major-Robert-Champion.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Good thing this is a black on black crime, if the 13 had been white, they all would be up for murder and hate crime charges for killing a gay black man.
The charges were announced more than five months after 26-year-old Robert Champion died aboard a chartered bus parked outside an Orlando hotel following a performance against a rival school.
The case has exposed a harsh tradition among marching bands at some colleges around the U.S.
Mr Champion was severely beaten by band members in November and had with bruises on his chest, arms, shoulder and back, authorities said.
Witnesses told emergency dispatchers Mr Champion was vomiting before he was found unresponsive aboard the bus.
State Attorney Lawson Lamar said 11 of the 13 people will face a hazing resulting death charge, a third-degree felony. If convicted, they could face up to nearly six years in prison. The other two people will face a misdemeanor charges.
The names of those charged will not be released until they are all arrested, Mr Lamar said. It was also not immediately clear whether they were all band members.
Legal experts had predicted prosecutors may file more serious charges like manslaughter and second-degree murder.
The Champion family attorney, Christopher Chestnut, said they were disappointed.
'They had hoped for more serious charges. They were hoping for a stronger message. He was beaten to death,' he said.
Mr Champion's parents have sued the bus company owner, claiming in a lawsuit that the bus driver stood guard outside the bus while the hazing took place. The bus company owner initially said the bus driver was helping other band members with their equipment when the hazing took place.
Witnesses in the Mr Champion case have told his parents he might have been targeted because he opposed the hazing, the parents' attorney has said. It has also been suggested to them that Mr Champion was targeted because he was gay and a candidate for chief drum major.
The lawsuit described two types of hazing that took place on the bus. During the first, pledges of a band clique known as 'Bus C' ran from the front to the back of the bus while other band members slapped, kicked and hit them. A pledge who fell was stomped and dragged to the front of the bus to run again.
In a ritual known as 'the hot seat,' a pillow case was placed over the pledge's nose and mouth while the pledge was forced to answer questions. If a pledge got a right answer, the pillow case was removed briefly; a pledge with a wrong answer was given another question without a chance to take a breath, the lawsuit said.
FAMU has suspended the band and launched a task force to recommend steps it could take to curtail hazing.
In spite of that, prosecutors didn't think they had enough evidence to pursue more serious charges against the perpetrators.
'The testimony obtained to date does not support a charge of murder, in that it does not contain the elements of murder,' Mr Lamar said.
'We can prove participation in hazing and a death. We do not have a blow or a shot or a knife thrust that killed Mr. Champion.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-major-Robert-Champion.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Good thing this is a black on black crime, if the 13 had been white, they all would be up for murder and hate crime charges for killing a gay black man.