Two former leaders of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Penn State University were sentenced Tuesday to serve two to four months in prison for their roles in the 2017 hazing death of Timothy Piazza.
Ex-fraternity President Brendan Young, 28, and Vice President Daniel Casey, 27, each had pleaded guilty in July to 14 misdemeanor counts of hazing and reckless endangerment. Their sentences, handed down in Centre County Court, include work release eligibility and three years of probation and community service.
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"Our thoughts are with the Piazza family and everyone affected by this tragedy," Attorney General Michelle Henry said in a statement. "Nothing can undo the harm Tim suffered seven years ago — nothing can bring Tim back to his family and friends. With the sentences ordered today, the criminal process reached a conclusion."
During a pledge event on Feb. 2, 2017, Piazza, 19, took part in a drinking ritual called "The Gauntlet," which involved consuming a bottle of vodka, a beer and a bag of wine. Prosecutors said he was among the first pledges to complete the challenge and was visibly intoxicated.
He later fell down a flight of stairs and was placed on a couch by fraternity members, who periodically slapped, punched and poured beer on him throughout the night, prosecutors said. At one point, Piazza attempted to get up and fell head-first into an iron railing. No one at the fraternity called for medical help until 11 a.m. the next day.
Piazza, of Lebanon, New Jersey, died on Feb. 4. The coroner's report said he suffered a ruptured spleen and a fracture at the base of his skull. An autopsy reported found his blood alcohol content was at least four times the legal limit and his death was caused by multiple traumatic injuries.
The fraternity was permanently banned from Penn State, and 18 of its members were indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges, though court rulings later dismissed many of the major charges. Four fraternity members were sentenced and served jail time in 2019 for their roles in Piazza's death.
The Piazza family was key in the Pennsylvania legislature's passage of the Timothy Piazza Anti-Hazing Law, which requires felony-grade offenses for serious injuries or death resulting from hazing. The fraternity members in this case could have been sentenced to harsher penalties had that law been in place in 2017.