Students In Hazing Incident Plead Guilty, Face Dismissal (Follow Up On Platsburgh)

[moe.ron]

POSTED: 10:26 p.m. EST October 29, 2003

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- Two Plattsburgh State students pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges stemming from the death of a student police say was forced to drink pitchers of water through a funnel while pledging a fraternity.

The guilty pleas came as officials at Plattsburgh State planned to announce that some of the 21 students involved in the hazing death of Walter Dean Jennings will be permanently dismissed from the school, a spokesman said.

Adam Atkinson, 21, of Hudson Falls, pleaded guilty to second-degree hazing, a violation, in Clinton County Court, the Press-Republican of Plattsburgh reported. William Farmer III, 21, of Rochester pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor. He admitted forcing another pledge to drink excessive amounts of liquid until he vomited.

Farmer will be sentenced to three years probation in January. Atkinson will be sentenced Jan. 26. Christopher Colletti, 20, of Maybrook is scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

The students involved in the incident are being charged by the college with affiliation with an unrecognized group, endangerment and hazing, all violations of the schools code of conduct, Plattsburgh State spokesman Keith Tyo told The Daily Gazette. The school's charges are separate from the criminal case.

A news conference is scheduled Thursday including SUNY Chancellor Robert King. It comes as a committee of campus presidents is preparing SUNY-wide proposals and state legislators prepare bills to increase prison terms for the crime of hazing.

Five other members of the Psi Epsilon Chi fraternity have already pleaded guilty to charges related to the death of Jennings, who police say was forced to drink pitchers of water through a funnel while pledging the fraternity, which had been suspended.

Eleven members of the fraternity faced more than 150 charges in the death of Jennings of Gansevoort, an 18-year-old Plattsburgh State freshman who died March 12 of water intoxication. An autopsy determined that the water in Jennings' body caused swelling of the brain.

The charges included criminally negligent homicide and first-degree hazing. The university does not recognize the fraternity because of past alcohol-related trouble.

Three Psi Epsilon Chi members are now expected to go to trial Nov. 5.
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