Kern County (California) Superior Court Judge Lorna H. Brumfield could have thrown the book at Cal-Bakersfield defendants if local district attorney had recommended felony charges. Instead, following severe beatings of Kappa Alpha Psi pledges along with bizarre BB shootings of pledges, the members were given mainly probation and time served, according to the Bakersfield California. One pledge had suffered a severe back injury that required surgery.
Moderator: Justice may be blind, but in this case she was misguided as well. Since there was severe bodily injury and multiple brutal attacks, the charges should have been felonies. With all due respect to both the District Attorney’s office and Kern County (California) Superior Court Judge Lorna H. Brumfield, I’d like to assign a grade of F- to them for their combined judgment and decisions. An attorney for the accused pledgemaster told the Court his client was pleased with the verdict. I’ll just bet he was. Given that a Bakersfield youth died this weekend from hazing, I’d say Philemon Lamont Norris and two other defendants ought to be more than pleased. Scholars: put this verdict at the top of your list when writing about “under-punished” verdicts assigned by the courts. This slap on the wrist for beatings of Kappa Alpha Psi pledges with a deadly weapon sure beats all for leniency. Why even have Matt’s Law (which its sponsors fought so hard for) if it isn’t going to be a factor? Compare this to two year sentences in North Carolina and Florida for VERY similar beatings during hazing, and you wonder just what it is going to take to have a judge and District Attorney assign similar felony jail time. I’m not ranting here. Not at all. Just hoping the perps get to send a lesson to future hazers and pledge beaters. This sends a lesson all right. We’ll get off easy. –Moderator Hank Nuwer