Judge drops most serious charges against Penn State frat brothers

BELLEFONTE, Pa. — A district judge on Tuesday for a second time threw out involuntary manslaughter charges against Pennsylvania State University fraternity brothers related to the February 2017 hazing death of sophomore pledge Tim Piazza.

Ending a three-day preliminary hearing, judge Allen Sinclair also dismissed dozens of other charges against the fraternity members. For some of the 11 members, all charges have been dismissed. Members faced more than 300 charges in the death, including reckless endangerment, conspiracy to commit hazing and furnishing alcohol to minors.

It’s the second time that Sinclair heard the case. Last summer, he threw out the most serious charges, including felony aggravated assault and involuntary manslaughter against eight members, but the former district attorney refiled many of them.

Sinclair’s ruling deals another blow to the prosecution of a case that not only has rocked Penn State’s campus, but also added to the growing national scrutiny of misconduct and alcohol-soaked hazing by fraternities.

The prosecution, this time led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Brian Zarallo, argued that fraternity members planned and executed a hazing ritual and deliberately got Piazza drunk and then failed to get him medical care after he was seriously injured. Piazza consumed 18 drinks in 82 minutes, then fell down the stairs at the fraternity house. No one called for help for nearly 12 hours, and Piazza later died of head, spleen and lung injuries.

“A failure to act in and of itself is reckless,” Zarallo argued.

If Piazza’s fall that rendered him unconscious had happened anywhere other than a fraternity house, it would have been expected that 911 would be called, he said.

But defense attorneys maintained that their clients didn’t and couldn’t know the severity of Piazza’s injuries and that Piazza’s drinking was voluntary.

Some of the testimony broke new ground, including video shown of drinking that went on in the fraternity basement. Prosecutors have alleged a fraternity member deleted the video, but the FBI was able to recover it. But much of the evidence also retreaded or expanded on ground covered last summer when the first preliminary hearing was held for 18 members.