5 charged with felonies in OU SX pledge death

[hoosier]

Charges filed in fraternity pledge death
March 22, 2005, 09:49 AM PST _

RUSSELL CARTER REPORTING

The Cleveland County District Attorney has filed felony charges in connection with the death of an O.U. fraternity pledge.

Blake Hammontree was found dead inside the Sigma Chi fraternity house last September. An autopsy found he had a blood alcohol level of more than five times the legal amount.

Charges have been filed against 20-year-old Jordan Scott Mitchell, 21-year-old John David Hall, 21-year-old Raymond Henry Davis, and 20-year-old John Abbott Frame.

They all face charges of unlawfully furnishing an alcohol beverage to a minor. A fifth individual, Cody Barrington, was previously charged with the same offense.

If convicted, each of the defendants could face up to five years in prison.

[Kevin]

Below are links to each of their cases. In Oklahoma, we keep all pleadings court dockets, etc. online. From what I saw, all of the pleadings in the case are available in .gif format at those links.

http://www.oscn.net/applications/oci...1&db=Cleveland http://www.oscn.net/applications/oci...2&db=Cleveland http://www.oscn.net/applications/oci...9&db=Cleveland http://www.oscn.net/applications/oci...0&db=Cleveland

[DeltAlum]

If they are convicted of felonies, I hope none of them hoped to go to law school or med school, or do a fair amount of other things which tend to hold prison records against you.

What a mess.

[AGDee]

I find it interesting that a couple of them are only 20 years old themselves. If they provided alcohol to a minor, then whoever provided it to them should be in trouble too, right?

[Kevin]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
If they are convicted of felonies, I hope none of them hoped to go to law school or med school, or do a fair amount of other things which tend to hold prison records against you.

What a mess.

They haven't been convicted yet. I presume that it will be a legal fight. Their parents don't want felony records for their sons either. Since they were able to afford Sigma Chi dues, I'm also assumign that their parents have the means to finance a good defense.

The DA in Cleveland County is VERY political. A great deal of what he is doing here is grandstanding.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by ktsnake
Since they were able to afford Sigma Chi dues, I'm also assumign that their parents have the means to finance a good defense.

Your point is a good one, but a couple of years ago I read a statistic that a huge number of present day fraternity members have at least part time jobs to help pay dues, etc. In years past, that wasn't the case as parents paid pretty much everything. Of course that varries from chapter to chapter and group to group I would think.

You're certainly much more familiar with that chapter than I am.

[Virtual Violet]

Originally posted by ktsnake
They haven't been convicted yet. I presume that it will be a legal fight. Their parents don't want felony records for their sons either. Since they were able to afford Sigma Chi dues, I'm also assumign that their parents have the means to finance a good defense.

The DA in Cleveland County is VERY political. A great deal of what he is doing here is grandstanding.

Umm.... politics aside, I don't think there can be too much "grand standing" from the DA when you are talking about the fact that someone died and these young men are implicated in that death

[snooky]

I agree.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by Virtual Violet
Umm.... politics aside, I don't think there can be too much "grand standing" from the DA when you are talking about the fact that someone died and these young men are implicated in that death

I live less than half an hour away from this County. I'm very familiar with their courts and know many of their judges. When I say Kuykendall is a publicity whore, I am saying it because that is what I've observed first hand.

That said, I fully expect, when publicity dies down about this, to see these kids charges reduced to misdemeanors, or, in the alternative, these cases may very well go to trial.

On the other hand, I am somewhat familiar with the SX house at OU, and do recognize that they had some serious risk reduction issues. We'll see how it plays out, I'm not really rooting for either side. I hope justice is done. I'm simply "telling it like it is".

ETA:

Just about everyone that could be called in this case is also a possible co-conspirator. Therefore, you'll see a lot of stonewalling when it comes to witnesses, and a lot of people pleading the fizith. I will be VERY surprised if there are any convictions here.