Student found dead at OU Sigma Chi House

[hoosier]

Updated: October 7, 2004 8:56 AM

An OU student has been arrested in connection with the death of a fraternity pledge.

Cody Barrington, 21, is accused of furnishing alcohol to a minor.

The victim in this case was 19-year-old Blake Hammontree, who was found dead last week inside the Sigma Chi house on the OU campus.

Barrington pled not guilty Tuesday to charges of providing alcohol to a minor. Barrington's attorney believes the student is being pinned as a scapegoat and said his client is not to blame.

Police say Hammontree drank himself to death. And now comes the first of what the Cleveland County district attorney said will be several arrests.

Barrington is accused of providing alcohol to a pledge member.

"One thing that we can agree on is that, both sides agree, that my client did not purchase any alcoholic beverage for Mr. Hammontree," said his attorney, who believes none of the members of the Sigma Chi fraternity acted in a criminal manner.

Barrington is an honor roll student with a 3.9 grade point average. Welch believes there is little evidence connecting his client to a bottle of cinnamon schnapps. Police contend Barrington purchased that bottle for a pledge.

"They received information from a Jordan Mitchell that my client allegedly purchased liquor for Mr. Mitchell," the attorney said. "At this time, we dispute that allegation from being true."

Barrington's attorney also feels his client is being made the scapegoat for Hammontree's death.

And, he said, the university has done little to curb underage drinking on campus.

"We all know underage drinking takes place on college campuses," he said. "I don't know what efforts the University of Oklahoma has made to make sure that doesn't happen, prior to this incident. But what I don't want to see is my client being prosecuted or made a scapegoat because of this incident."

Barrington's next court date is November 9 when both sides will meet for a preliminary hearing conference.

OU president David Boren suspended the fraternity and ordered all the fraternity's members out of the house as the investigation into Hammontree's death continuies.

[exlurker]

An October 8, 2004 news story with a few more details on Hammontree's death

The entire article is at

http://www.summitdaily.com/apps/pbcs...plate=printart

Drinking death detailed in affadivit

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 8, 2004

NORMAN, Okla. - A University of Oklahoma student who died after a night of drinking with his fraternity brothers was so intoxicated that he had to be showered and put to bed, according to court documents.

The affidavit also showed the members of the Sigma Chi fraternity talked among themselves and made several other phone calls before calling 911 when Blake Adam Hammontree was found dead about nine hours later.

Hammontree, 19, was found dead Sept. 30 in the Sigma Chi fraternity house. His blood alcohol content was .42, more than five times the legal limit, according to a state medical examiner's report.

A police affidavit said that Hammontree, a new pledge to the fraternity, had been drinking beer and a specific brand of Schnapps with flecks of gold in it the night before, the affidavit said.

Fraternity members interviewed by police said he looked "'obviously intoxicated state,"' and had to be helped to the bathroom where he repeatedly vomited.

Hammontree, of Medford, was attending a Big Brother/Little Brother party, one of two events held by the fraternity each year in which Big Brothers provide "'drink refreshments (alcohol),"' the affidavit said.

Police said they received information from at least one pledge that there was pressure and encouragement for the pledges to drink large quantities of alcohol at this party.

At about 1:30 p.m. Hammontree was escorted to his Big Brother's room and put to bed on the fraternity member's sofa because he was about to "'pass out."'

At about 10:30 a.m., when members of the fraternity went to check on Hammontree he was found cold, stiff, purple and beyond resuscitation.

Hammontree's death prompted OU President David Boren to shut down the fraternity house and form an advisory panel to discuss ways to limit drinking on campus.

Initially police said fraternity members were not cooperating with the investigation into Hammontree's death.

One pledge told police he was contacted by members the Sigma Chi fraternity and told to "'leave"' Norman and contact an attorney and "'quit talking."'

While no arrests have been made in connection with Hammontree's death, one fraternity member has been arrested for providing alcohol to a minor who was attending the same party.

Cody Barrington, 21, a sophomore business major from Southlake, Texas, appeared before a Cleveland County District Court judge on Tuesday on a felony charge of furnishing alcohol to a minor. He was released on his own recognizance.

According to a police affidavit, Barrington said he purchased several types of alcohol and dispensed it from his room. A police search of his room found numerous receipts and handwritten notes requesting liquor. . . .

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by exlurker
One pledge told police he was contacted by members the Sigma Chi fraternity and told to "'leave"' Norman and contact an attorney and "'quit talking."'[/I]

This is pretty damning if it's all true.

You have to hope that if the pledge was really told that, that it wasn't by a member of the national Sigma Chi organization. That would be very bad news -- unless they were talking about talking with the media, in which case it's good advice. Stonewalling the cops is not acceptable.

A felony charge against the guy who allegedly supplied the alcohol is pretty tough as well.

What a mess.

[kddani]

yet another example of why not to be someone's beer b!tch once you turn 21.... underage friends would get ticked at me for not being ecstatic to buy them liquor when I turned 21.

[exlurker]

According to recent reports, several people have been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury this coming Monday through Wednesday to testify in the matter of Hammontree's death. The district attorny is quoted as saying that people have been "uncooperative" and that there has been "continuing resistance" to the investiagtion. See article at

http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/3826510/detail.html

[James]

Actually, thats not bad advice.

In todays legal climate its a really good idea not to allow yourself to be questioned about almost any crime without an attourney present to protect your rights or incriminating yourself by mispeaking.

If you say the wrong thing on a statement you can create a liability that didn't exist.

The police don't play fair and are generally not your friends when it comes to this stuff.

Thats not stone walling. Having a lawyer present is just common sense.

Do you guys disagree?

Originally posted by DeltAlum
This is pretty damning if it's all true.

You have to hope that if the pledge was really told that, that it wasn't by a member of the national Sigma Chi organization. That would be very bad news -- unless they were talking about talking with the media, in which case it's good advice. Stonewalling the cops is not acceptable.

A felony charge against the guy who allegedly supplied the alcohol is pretty tough as well.

What a mess.

[DeltAlum]

I agree pretty much with James, however I think there's a difference between "stonewalling" and being uncooperative with the police.

He is correct that it is best to have an attorney present.

Here's a story on subpoenas:

The Oklahoma Daily
University of Oklahoma
October 15, 2004

Witnesses 'uncooperative'
Subpoenas have been issued to witnesses of Blake Adam Hammontree's death.

by Kendal Kelly - Daily Staff Writer

The Cleveland County District Attorney’s office is issuing subpoenas to
numerous individuals who are refusing to cooperate with investigators in
the Blake Adam Hammontree case, said Tim Kuykendall, Cleveland County
District Attorney.
The subpoenas will require the individuals to testify in front of the
Oklahoma Multi-County Grand Jury beginning next week, Kuykendall said.
“This is not something we do often because usually witnesses are
cooperative in our investigations, but this is not the case in this
investigation,” he said.
Hammontree, an OU freshman, was found dead Sept. 30 in the Sigma Chi
fraternity house. Hammontree died from alcohol poisoning, with a blood
alcohol level of 0.42.
Some of the witnesses are Sigma Chi fraternity members.
Kuykendall said the Sigma Chi national organization said it told local
members to cooperate with law enforcement, “but it is quite obvious they
are not,” Kuykendall said.
In front of the grand jury, the subpoenaed individuals will either testify
or invoke their Fifth Amendment right and refuse to testify on grounds of
self-incrimination, Kuykendall said.
The witnesses do not have to testify if their answer would be
self-incriminating, Kuykendall said.
“Many of the questions we ask these individuals are getting to the facts of
what happened,” he said. “We are not asking them to incriminate themselves.”
If they plead the Fifth, then the witness will have a hearing before a
judge, who will decide if the individual has to testify or not, he said.
“If a judge orders them to testify and they refuse to do so, they could
face being held in contempt of court,” Kuykendall said.
If someone is ruled in contempt of court, they could face fines or
incarceration, he said.
At least one Sigma Chi fraternity pledge said there was some pressure from
members to drink alcohol on Sept. 29, the night before Hammontree was found
dead, according to an affidavit, written by Det. Jim Parks of the Norman
Police Department, for a search warrant.
The pledge told at least one investigating officer that “there was some
pressure and encouragement for the pledges to indulge in quantities of
alcohol,” the affidavit stated.
Daniel Carter, senior vice president of Security on Campus, Inc., read a
copy of the affidavit and said in an e-mail that it “[paints] a picture of
out-of-control underage and binge-drinking culture that is all too common
in fraternity environments, and on campuses in general across the country.”
“The active, older members put pressure on the younger ones to emulate
their behavior in order for them to fit in and be a part of the culture,”
Carter said. “While the actives usually have built up a resistance to high
levels of alcohol through years of rampant abuse, the pledges often are not
able to handle extreme quantities of alcohol as well. If taken too far, or
if the pledges are left unmonitored, they may die as a result.”
From the information provided in the affidavit, Carter said it is unclear
if there was actual hazing going on at the Sigma Chi house.
“In most hazing situations, the hazed individuals ‘voluntarily’ go along
with whatever they are subjected to in order to fit in,” Carter said. “The
situation in this case is no different. The culture of high-risk and
underage drinking and indifference to human life led to death.”
According to Oklahoma Statutes’ Title 21, Section 1190, hazing is defined
as “an activity which recklessly or intentionally endangers the mental
health or physical health or safety of a student for the purpose of
initiation or admission into or affiliation with any organization” that
operates in an institution of higher education. Endangering physical health
includes forced consumption of alcohol, the statute states.
Any hazing activity described in the statute “shall be presumed to be a
forced activity, even if the student willingly participates in such activity.”
Kuykendall said that without more specific facts than what are revealed in
the affidavit, it’s hard to say if hazing was going on at the Sigma Chi
house when Hammontree died.
“Forcing pledges to drink alcohol would be hazing, in my opinion, under
Oklahoma law,” he said. “Just providing them alcohol would not in and of
itself be hazing.”
At OU, hazing is defined as “an activity participated in or encouraged by
student groups, or any members, or associates of a group, in which
prospective members or pledges are subjected to or imposed upon to do
onerous, denigrating or hazardous tasks,” according to the OU Student Code.
In the case of a hazing violation, individuals or entire groups can be held
responsible, the code states. Interfrater-nity Council President Omar
Zantout said the issue of hazing is “tricky.” He would not speculate if
what happened at Sigma Chi was hazing.
Brian Burbrink, the managing director of undergraduate services at the
Sigma Chi national headquarters, defined hazing as “anything a brother is
asked to do that is not constructive to his initiation and is detrimental
to his mental or physical well-being.”
Burbrink said he did not feel comfortable commenting on the information
revealed in the affidavit because he had not read it himself.
However, he said the national headquarters is prepared to hold OU’s Sigma
Chi chapter accountable to all of Sigma Chi’s policies.
On the night of Sept. 29, Hammontree was attending a party following a big
brother/little brother ceremony. Police have learned that there was “a lot
of alcohol” consumed at the party, the affidavit states.
The affidavit states that prior to the party, more than one member of the
fraternity made a “liquor run” and asked other underage members for orders
and money to pay for them.
During the party, the alcohol was served out of members’ rooms, the
affidavit states.
At the party, Hammontree drank both beer and schnapps, and several
individuals described him in an “obviously intoxicated state.” Hammontree
had to be assisted to the bathroom where he repeatedly threw up in the
toilet, after which members helped shower and clean him up, according to
the affidavit.
At about 1:30 a.m., Hammontree was taken to the room of his big brother, OU
sophomore John Frame, where he was placed on a sofa because he was about to
“pass out,” according to the affidavit. Approximately nine hours later, at
10:30 a.m., members checked on Hammontree and found him to be “cold, stiff,
purple and beyond resuscitation.”
The affidavit also states that members then talked among themselves and
made numerous phone calls before calling 911.
One pledge was contacted by other fraternity members and told to leave
Norman, contact an attorney and “quit talking,” the affidavit states.
Although there have been no arrests made in connection with Hammontree’s
death, Cody Barrington, a 21-year-old business sophomore, was arrested on
charges of furnishing alcohol to a minor who attended the same party as
Hammontree.
The spokesman for Sigma Chi fraternity, Justin Shearer, declined to comment.

[exlurker]

As you might expect under the circumstances, Sigma Chi national headquarters has removed the charter of the U. of Oklahoma chapter. A Sigma Chi national officer, Jory Taylor, is quoted as saying, "the current chapter cannot continue and the current members are not permitted to assemble." The story is reported in the Oct. 21 online issue of The Oklahoman at

http://newsok.com/article/1343795/?template=home/main

According to the article Sigma Chi found that the chapter violated 10 sections of the fraternity's Risk Management Foundation policy and several other national Sigma Chi rules.

The article mentions that it would be at least two years before Sigma Chi could return to OU.

[exlurker]

Update Nov. 13, 2004: More Subpoenas, More Grand Jury Testimony6 Expected


http://www.kotv.com/main/home/storie...age=1&id=72442

More subpoenas are being issued and the grand jury is expected to hear testimony from more people, including some Sigma Chis, according to the Associated Press story.

[Tom Earp]

Ask any Lawyer, if you are supeneoed by a Grand Jury, basically, you have no rights. The 5 th Amendment doesnt hold water with them and you may not be apprised by Legal Council.

Strange isnt it? So Much for Constitutional Rights!

[DeltAlum]

According to news reports, more felony charges will be filed against Sigma Chi members when Spring Break ends.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
According to news reports, more felony charges will be filed against Sigma Chi members when Spring Break ends.

The A.G. Kuykendall is known for his crusades against members of GLO's. In this case, though, it may be justified. There is a lot of information out there that is prety damning where it comes to the SX chapter and their practices. I sincerely hope that it prompts other chapters at OU to take a long, hard look at themselves.