This is the second death for the Texas Cowboys. The death penalty might have been appropriate as well.
Author: 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.
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. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com
Here is the story link for an article by Molly Sullivan, Sacramento Bee
Moderator: I see this trial as an important case. Clearly, in previous deaths, perpetrators have gotten away with “cleaning up” a death site, thereby destroying evidence.
Excerpt:
The jury trial for Braxton Becker, a former member and the house manager of Penn State’s now defunct Beta Theta Pi fraternity, began Tuesday. It’s the first jury trial in the case related to the hazing death of Penn State student Timothy Piazza in 2017. Becker allegedly deleted security camera footage of the fraternity house basement.
Piazza suffered fatal injuries during the fraternity’s spring 2017 bid acceptance night. His death prompted Pennsylvania to impose stricter antihazing laws and the university to begin Greek life reform. More than two dozen former fraternity brothers have been implicated in both the criminal and civil cases related to Piazza’s death.
Citing the exchange of text and GroupMe messages among Becker and other former Beta Theta Pi brothers, prosecutors from the state Attorney General’s office want to prove that Becker tampered with evidence, obstructed justice and hindered apprehension.
“I can see if I can erase last night,” Becker wrote the day after Piazza’s fall down a flight of stairs, in a message read aloud at trial by Deputy Attorney General Megan Madaffari. Madaffari said Becker showed “willingness to delete the video” and left police investigating for months without knowing about the surveillance footage that was allegedly deleted.
Karen Muir, Becker’s defense attorney, reminded the jury that the burden to prove beyond reasonable doubt is on prosecutors and said they hadn’t met their burden.
Man in hazing death accused of deleting files before search
BATON ROUGE, La. — A former Louisiana State University student charged in the hazing death of a fraternity pledge is accused of deleting hundreds of files from his cellphone just before authorities could search it.
The Advocate reports prosecutors on Wednesday requested Google provide all information, content and deleted data from accounts associated with Matthew Naquin’s phone between August 2017 and that December.
He’s charged with negligent homicide in the 2017 death of 18-year-old Georgia native Max Gruver after a Phi Delta Theta hazing ritual requiring pledges to chug hard liquor.
Authorities say the 21-year-old Texas native erased the content on the same night authorities were granted the right to search it, and refused to provide the password. The FBI unlocked it in March.
Google generally complies with court-approved search warrants in criminal cases.
Thank you to Aaron for forwarding the link.
News feature by Aaron Besacker. Why is hazing so hard to prosecute? Read to find out.
Interviews with David Easlick, Kimberly Burch, Douglas Fierberg continue
–Moderator Hank Nuwer
