The former president and vice president of a Pennsylvania fraternity in which pledge Timothy Piazza fell and later died from a binge were sentenced to prison Tuesday.
Brendan Young, 28, who was the president of the now-defunct Beta Theta Pi chapter in 2017, and Daniel Casey, 27, who was the vice president and pledge master, were sentenced at the Center County Courthouse in 2017. He was sentenced to two to four months in prison. He will be sentenced to three years' probation and community service. Each will be subject to work release.
Young and Casey both pleaded guilty in July to 14 counts of hazing and one count of reckless endangerment, both misdemeanors.
They were the last two criminal defendants to be sentenced in the case that prompted the Pennsylvania state legislature to crack down on hazing.
They were ordered to report to the Center County Correctional Facility on Monday.
“Our thoughts are with the Piazza family and all those affected by this tragedy,” Attorney General Michel Henry said in a statement. “Nothing can undo the damage that was done to Tim seven years ago. Nothing can bring Tim back to his family and friends.”
Messages seeking comment were left with Young's attorney Julian Allatt and Casey's attorney Steven Trionis.
Mr. Piazza, a 19-year-old engineering student from Lebanon, New Jersey, and 13 other pledgers had sought to join the fraternity on a night in which Mr. Piazza had at least 18 drinks in less than two hours.
Security camera footage captured Piazza's excruciating final moments as he fell down the basement stairs and had to be carried back to the second floor by others.
He showed signs of severe pain when he spent the night on the couch downstairs.
It took hours before he could call for help. Piazza suffered severe head and abdominal injuries and died at the hospital.
At one point, more than 20 fraternity members were charged with various crimes.
More than a dozen people pleaded guilty to hazing and alcohol violations, while a small number entered diversion programs designed for first-time, nonviolent offenders.
Prosecutors were unable to get a judge to approve more serious charges, such as manslaughter and aggravated assault.
Pennsylvania banned fraternities.
The Pennsylvania Legislature passed a bill making the most severe forms of hazing a felony, requiring schools to maintain anti-hazing policies, and authorizing the confiscation of fraternity houses where hazing occurs.
If the law had been in effect at the time of Piazza's death, the defendants would have faced harsher penalties, the attorney general's office said.
