The former president and vice president of a now-defunct Penn State fraternity, where a student died after consuming massive amounts of alcohol during a hazing ritual more than seven years ago, received jail sentences on Tuesday.
Brendan Young, 28, and Daniel Casey, 27, were sentenced in Centre County Court to two to four months in prison, followed by three years of probation and community service, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. Both Young and Casey will be eligible for work release.
Young and Casey each pleaded guilty in July to 14 counts of hazing and one count of reckless endangerment — all misdemeanors. Prosecutors said the charges were tied to a 2017 hazing event, where 19-year-old Timothy Piazza was found unresponsive after consuming large amounts of alcohol and “died days later as a result of multiple falls incurred subsequent to his intoxication.”
The two former fraternity leaders participated in and facilitated the hazing event, according to prosecutors. Young served as president of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, and Casey was vice president and pledge master at the time of the incident.
Young and Casey were the final two criminal defendants to be sentenced in the case, in which more than two dozen fraternity members were initially charged — some with involuntary manslaughter. Some of the most serious charges were dropped and others were thrown out by judges.
The case also sparked widespread outrage over frat culture and the problem of hazing rituals on college campuses, resulting in school policy reforms and a national anti-hazing campaign supported by Piazza’s family.
“Our thoughts are with the Piazza family and everyone affected by this tragedy,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry said in a statement. “Nothing can undo the harm Tim suffered seven years ago — nothing can bring Tim back to his family and friends. With the sentences ordered today, the criminal process reached a conclusion.”
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What happened to Timothy Piazza?
Piazza, who was an engineering student from New Jersey, died at a hospital on Feb. 4, 2017, two days after a hazing event at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house. The teen was among 14 student pledges summoned to the fraternity house for a bid acceptance event.
A grand jury report released in May 2017 detailed the final hours of Piazza’s life. On the evening of Feb. 2, security cameras at the fraternity recorded Piazza drinking large quantities of alcohol, including vodka and beer, as part of one of the fraternity’s initiation rituals, known as “The Gauntlet.”
Footage then showed Piazza struggling throughout the night and falling multiple times. At one point during the event, the report said Piazza was on a couch, and fraternity members put a backpack full of books on his back to keep him from rolling over and choking on his vomit.
Piazza later fell a flight of stairs at the fraternity house but members did not seek medical treatment for him until the next morning, according to the report. Investigators determined that Piazza consumed at least 18 drinks in under two hours and a doctor calculated that his blood-alcohol content when he fell down a flight of stairs was .28 to .36 percent — about four times the legal limit for driving.
Doctors concluded that Piazza suffered multiple traumatic brain injuries, including a fractured skull and a lacerated spleen. Piazza died as a result of “extremely reckless conduct” by fraternity members, aided by the permissive atmosphere fostered by Penn State’s Interfraternity Council, the grand jury found.
Aftermath of Timothy Piazza’s death
Piazza’s death prompted Penn State to adopt several policy changes for sororities and fraternities. The university also permanently banned its chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
Prosecutors said the Piazza family was “instrumental” in the Pennsylvania legislature passing the Timothy J. Piazza Anti–Hazing Law, which established stricter punishments for hazing and requires schools to maintain anti-hazing policies.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday that the defendants could have faced harsher penalties “had that statute been in place at the time of the 2017 incident.”
Piazza continues to be remembered through the Timothy J. Piazza Memorial Foundation, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that helps “children and adults who need prosthesis” and funds scholarships for Hunterdon Central High School students. There is also a Timothy J. Piazza Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research and Reform at Penn State.
Contributing: John Bacon, USA TODAY; Suzanne Russell, MyCentralJersey.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Timothy Piazza case: Penn State frat leaders sentenced in hazing death
