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Story link: Alpha member gets 180 days in jail for hazing and 10 years’ probation, not 20 years in prison

Court sends message but leans toward leniency

Second story is longer: begins here

Probation for SMU hazing

Dallas: DeSoto man, first of 8 to be tried for near-fatal fraternity initiation, also gets jail time, fine

12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, June 27, 2006

By MICHAEL GRABELL / The Dallas Morning News Mercy or a message?

JUSTIN COOK/DMN

JUSTIN COOK/DMN

Raymond Lee wipes tears after learning of his punishment. The victim, Braylon Curry, (left) nearly died after chugging water. Classes kept him away from Monday’s proceedings.

Both options weighed on jurors’ minds as they considered how to punish the first of eight men charged in an SMU fraternity initiation that involved chugging water and caused a pledge to nearly die.

They returned with a little of both Monday, according to relatives of the defendant and victim. Raymond Lee received 10 years’ probation, a $10,000 fine and 180 days in jail.

The 28-year-old DeSoto fitness trainer was convicted Friday of aggravated assault in connection with the November 2003 off-campus ritual of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024 and April 2025 , the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division and Best Humorist, second place.

He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com

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