Hazing Fees Towards 5 Dropped in Pledge’s Loss of life – #information
Six of the 11 former Delta Chi members charged within the loss of life of Adam Oakes, 19, have pleaded responsible or no contest, however a prosecutor within the case declined to say why the fees in opposition to the remaining 5 had been dropped final week, The Richmond Instances-Dispatch reported. Each fees in these circumstances are misdemeanors and carry not more than a 12 months in jail and a nice of $2,500. Not one of the six obtained jail time.
Deputy Commonwealth’s Lawyer Mike Hollomon declined to touch upon the dropped fees, citing the open case standing of three different defendants.
Final 12 months, 11 former members of the fraternity had been charged with hazing and 7 of them with serving alcohol to a minor. VCU suspended the scholars, a protection legal professional mentioned final 12 months, and the college completely eliminated the fraternity from campus.
The police investigation discovered that Oakes was advised to drink a big bottle of whiskey in February 2021 and the freshman from Loudoun County was discovered lifeless the subsequent morning. The workplace of the chief medical expert dominated Oakes’ loss of life was brought on by alcohol poisoning. Richmond police, campus police and the college launched investigations and VCU expelled the fraternity in June 2021.
In September 2021, the college introduced that it might ban alcohol at fraternity and sorority occasions, publish misconduct situations on-line and pause new member recruitment. On the identical day, two investigations of college Greek life on campus had been launched, discovering that there are issues about hazing and binge ingesting on the college and employees has struggled to handle them.
“Simply because their fees are dropped doesn’t imply they’re harmless,” mentioned Courtney White, a cousin of Adam Oakes. They may have saved Oakes’ life by calling 911, she mentioned. White invited the defendants to take part within the Oakes household’s basis, Love Like Adam, and work in opposition to hazing.
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