Harshest charges in frat death tossed

A judge threw out involuntary manslaughter and many of the other most-serious remaining charges Wednesday against 11 of the former Penn State fraternity members arrested in a pledge’s hazingrelated death last year.

District Judge Allen Sinclair dismissed all five involuntary manslaughter charges along with all reckless endangerment and hazing counts before him during the three-day hearing that wrapped up late Tuesday. He sent to county court for trial only alcohol violations and, against two defendants, single counts of conspiracy to commit hazing.

The case involves the February 2017 death of 19-year-old engineering student Tim Piazza of Lebanon, New Jersey, who died of head and abdominal injuries after falling several times at the house the night of a bid-acceptance ceremony and party.

Security video showed him and other pledges being plied with alcohol, and authorities later estimated Piazza had consumed three to four times the state’s legal limit for drivers.

The district judge had tossed many of those same counts on Sept. 1. The county district attorney subsequently refiled many of those charges, and more were added. There also were new defendants charged after the FBI was able to recover deleted securitycamera footage from the basement. A preliminary hearing for those defendants is scheduled to begin May 2.

“This is the equivalent of a boxing match where they lost the major issues in the first fight, demanded a second fight and lost,” attorney Leonard Ambrose, representing Joseph Sala, said. “That’s it — they were knocked out of the ring.”

“I am disappointed by the decision of the magisterial district judge, and we are assessing our legal options,” said Attorney General Josh Shapiro. “My office is committed to seeking justice for Timothy Piazza and his family and holding responsible individuals accountable for their actions.”