Update on K A Psi FAMU Hazing Incident

[teena]

What I think is really, really jacked up is that FAMU took action against the Fraternity and the boys involved before any guilt had been adjudicated. I heard that the fraternity is off the yard for 7 years. That has GOTS to be illegal.

What if the allegations were bogus?

[jon1856]

Not to hijack your thread or group but to give a heads up:
this thread is also over in Hazing section.

As at least one posting here has indicated, hazing is not in any one sigular group, it is within us all.

Sad to say.

[teena]

The story made front page of the newspaper

[Japan357]

Mistrial Declared in FAMU Hazing Trial
TALLAHASSEE, FL (AP) -- A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the hazing trial of five Florida A&M University fraternity members
after the jury said it was perplexed by an undefined legal term and unable to reach a verdict.

The trial would have been the first to test a new state law that makes hazing a felony if it results in death or "serious bodily injury," but the law does not define the latter term.

Jurors deliberated for more than three hours, but the mistrial was declared about 20 minutes after they sent a note to Circuit Judge Kathleen Dekker asking for a more substantial definition of serious bodily injury. The jurors also asked how to distinguish between serious and moderate injury. She told the jury there was no further legal instruction.

"That is a very serious legal term and it has been defined in other statutes and yet for whatever reason it's not defined in this one," said defense lawyer Chuck Hobbs.

Dekker had instructed the six-member jury it means injury that is neither slight nor moderate.

Four Kappa Alpha Psi brothers were charged with using canes, boxing gloves and bare fists to beat aspiring fraternity member Marcus Jones, 20.

The Decatur, Ga.-native said he was beaten so severely over four nights of an initiation ritual that he suffered a broken ear drum and needed surgery on his buttocks.

The fifth defendant was accused of assisting in the alleged hazing by encouraging Jones and other would-be fraternity members to bear up under the beatings and revived them with water when they passed out from the pain.

The defendants accused of striking Jones are Michael Morton, 23, of Fort Lauderdale; Brian Bowman, 23, of Oakland, Calif.; Cory Gray, 22, of Montgomery, Ala., and Marcus Hughes, 21, of Fort Lauderdale. Jason Harris, 25, of Jacksonville, was accused of assisting them.

"This was no accident. This was no joke. This was not playtime at the frat house," Assistant State Attorney Frank Allman said in his closing argument. "This was intentional. This was dangerous."

Allman bypassed reporters by leaving the courtroom through a back door after the mistrial was declared. A telephone message left with the state attorney's office after hours was not immediately returned.

Florida's 2005 hazing law makes it a third degree felony, with penalties ranging from probation to five years in prison. The defendants were charged only with the felony so the jury could not convict them of a misdemeanor hazing charge.

The university has suspended the defendants pending the outcome of the criminal case. It also has suspended the fraternity until 2013 regardless of the outcome.

[SKEEphistAKAte]

Jason Harris and Michael Morton, two members of the Alpha Xi chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity at Florida A&M University, were each sentenced to two years in prison this evening by Circuit Judge Kathleen Dekker.Jason Harris and Michael Morton, two members of the Alpha Xi chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity at Florida A&M University, were each sentenced to two years in prison this evening by Circuit Judge Kathleen Dekker.

It is the first sentencing under a new, stiffer Florida law on hazing that results in injuries.


"I hope it stops here," Dekker said. " I hope the message sent to your brothers is that this no hazing stuff is real."

Already suspended from FAMU, they faced up to a maximum of five years in prison.

"I hope somebody out there says these two guys got two years, it's just not worth it."
The hearing, which lasted four hours, was filled with emotional testimony from professors, family members, ministers and former university presidents, who pleaded for leniency. The crowd overflowed the courtroom.

Jurors in December found Harris and Morton guilty of hazing but deadlocked on three more Kappa Alpha Psi members also facing hazing charges. Those men, Brian K. Bowman, 23; Cory A. Gray, 23; and Marcus B. Hughes, 21, will be tried again in March.

The five were arrested April 10 after Marcus Jones, a former sophomore at Florida A&M University, said he was beaten during a series of Alpha Xi initiation sessions.


http://www.tdo.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...NEWS/701290337


This is so incredibly sad.

[RBL]

Well.. a message has been sent..

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by RBL

Well.. a message has been sent..

yeah, but will it be received?

[AKA2D '91]

Per my young Kappa colleague (right out of college) , a few minutes ago, probably not.

[RBL]

Originally Posted by ladygreek

yeah, but will it be received?

I doubt it

[Lady of Pearl]

Hopefully, some good can come out of this situation, we need MORE education for ALL -old heads, graduates, undergraduates and prospective members.

[LiveLikeAli]

i coudl really spill the beans on this whole issue,but its behind me now.

[LiveLikeAli]

Originally Posted by marquise1911

Laughing so hard right now!!! 6 weeks!!! How much punch and cake can u consume...that's pledging under MIP!!! How many times can u meet up and study in one week. HA!!!!

at FAMU a certain line pledged over a weekend, no joke. 1 weekend

[Khiry]

how many ladies were on line? does that certain organization have a cap of 50 per line at famu?

[ole skool]

Hello Everybody,
My neice is interested in one of the greek lines....should I be worried? Should I tell her to wait for grad??

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by ole skool

Hello Everybody,
My neice is interested in one of the greek lines....should I be worried? Should I tell her to wait for grad??

She'll figure out what's best for her on her own.