Utah State Chi Omega Member to Spend 30 days in Jail
 

Deseret News
Salt Lake City, UT
June 17, 2009
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...jail-time.html

USU sorority member to spend 30 days in jail

By Ethan Thomas

LOGAN – One of the Utah State University students charged in connection
with the alcohol poisoning death of fraternity pledge Michael Starks has
been sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Whitney Katherine Miller, 19, pled guilty to unlawful supply of alcohol to
a minor, a class A misdemeanor, during a change of plea hearing last month.

This week she was sentenced to 365 days in jail, but 1st District Judge
Thomas Willmore suspended 335 days of the sentence, according to court records.

As part of her sentence, Miller will also have to prepare a presentation
that will be given to high school students and college freshman about he
danger of underage drinking, according to court records.

Miller will also be on probation for three years and is required to pay a
$1,000 fine.

Another defendant in the case, Brittany Packham, pled guilty last week to
unlawful supply of alcohol to a minor, a class B misdemeanor. A hazing
charge against Packham was dismissed last week also, according to court
records.

She will be sentenced on July 20.

Starks, 18, died after participating in an initiation ceremony for the
then-USU chapter of Sigma Nu. The initiation involved Starks and another
pledge being "kidnapped" by the Chi Omega sorority women. An affidavit of
probable cause states the pledges were stripped down to their boxers and
painted in USU school colors.

Sometime during the activity, they began drinking, prosecutors say. They
returned to the fraternity house already heavily intoxicated, and a few
hours later, Starks was found unconscious and not breathing.

Starks was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly afterward.

The only problem I have with this is that Ms. Miller is a minor. How did she get the alcohol to provide to another minor?

Fake ID? Black market? Canada/Mexico?

This does remind me of the time one of my friends (underage) broke into a hotel minibar and he reasoned that he could not be made to pay for the alcohol, since the hotel would break the law by selling to a minor.

Probably. Just seems a little ridiculous, though obviously she was liable. Hopefully the word will get around that you CAN go to jail for buying alcohol for minors! Your friend sounds like a moron, BTW!:D

Why is Katherine's a class A misdemeanor and Brittany's a class B misdemeanor, when they're both "unlawful supply of alcohol to a minor"?

Well, he smoked a LOT of pot, so I'm sure his reasoning was a tad cloudy.