• Hazing Deaths Database:
  • Blog
  • Storytelling
  • Bio
  • High School Sexual Hazing Incidents
  • Campus Speaker: Hazing & Binge Drinking
  • Hank Nuwer: selected media coverage
  • World Hazing Incidents
  • “Hazing,” “Sons of the Dawn,” “Legend of Jesse Owens”

Hank Nuwer's Hazing Scholarship Site

Follow me on Social Media

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

January may see four students sentenced to genuine prison time: NY Times writer Rick Rojas

December 3, 2017 By Hank Nuwer Leave a Comment

Januarycould see the harshest jail time for a hazing death. Michael Deng’s family has requested a suitable punishment.

The school is based in New York. The homicide occurred in Pensylvania.

Excerpt from The New York Times

Four fraternity members from New York City are expected to be sentenced on Monday after they pleaded guilty to charges that stemmed from the death of a Baruch College freshman who fell unconscious during a hazing ritual at a weekend retreat in rural Pennsylvania four years ago.

Neary two years after the death of the 18-year-old student, Chun Hsien Deng, prosecutors in Monroe County, Pa., announced that 37 people had been charged, and that the four men — as well as the fraternity itself, Pi Delta Psi — faced the most serious counts, including third-degree murder and aggravated assault.

Last month, after a seven-day trial, a jury acquitted the fraternity, Pi Delta Psi, on charges of third-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter, but the fraternity was found guilty of numerous other charges, including aggravated assault, involuntary manslaughter and hindering apprehension by concealing or destroying evidence.

The students had come to the Poconos from New York City in the winter of 2013 for a retreat for potential members to be initiated into Pi Delta Psi, an Asian-American fraternity. Mr. Deng, who went by Michael, was one of the pledges, and the authorities said he was knocked out during a ritual in which he was forced to cross a frozen yard while wearing a blindfold, carrying a backpack weighed down with sand while being pummeled by other fraternity members.

Prosecutors said the students delayed in seeking medical aid for Mr. Deng, and instead tried to resuscitate him themselves and called fraternity leaders who told them to hide anything bearing the fraternity’s name or symbol.

Photo

Mr. Deng, above, was pummeled by fraternity members while crossing a frozen field blindfolded and carrying a backpack filled with sand. 

Prosecutors praised the verdict against Pi Delta Psi, which the jury reached on Nov. 21, as holding the fraternity responsible for the “senseless and completely avoidable death of a strong, smart, promising college freshman.” The fraternity, which has a sentencing scheduled next month, faces penalties of fines of as much as $25,000 for each charge and could be restricted from operating in Pennsylvania.

 

Filed Under: Hazing News

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact Inquiries

Hank Nuwer

Correspondence: Hank Nuwer at Hnuwer@hanknuwer.com   Phone number upon request.  Available presentations USA, … Email to book a date.

Sons of the Dawn

Sons of the Dawn: A Basque Odyssey: Hank's novel is for teens 11-18 but also meant to be enjoyed by … Read More

Hazing Deaths Database:

… Read More

Thank you, AFA

New scholarship from Brazil: Hazing at the university and gender violence: a literature integrative review

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7213/psicolargum.39.103.AO02 Trotes na universidade e violência de gênero: uma revisão integrativa de literatura Hazing at the university and gender violence: a literature integrative review   Novatadas en la universidad y violencia de género: una revisión integradora de la literatura Adriane Roso https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7471-133X Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), adriane.roso@ufsm.br Janine Gudolle de Souza https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6477-4190 […]

A Poland-Union City Love story.

Here is the link. Hank   My wife Gosia earned her Green Card in October 2019. She gave eight-weeks’ notice at her chief accountant job in Poland and shipped what she could to Indiana. “Wait, how did a fellow from Indiana meet a Polish lass,” you may ask? I persuaded Gosia in June of 2015 […]

No charges in Cornell hazing death

New York Post

Archives


Hank Nuwer's Hazing Scholarship Site is proudly powered by WordPress