Author: Hank Nuwer

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Henrietta Town Justice John G. Pericak has acquitted five Rochester Institute of Technology students of hazing and other charges.

“It appears there was a rush to judgment in this matter,” Pericak wrote in his 12-page decision.

The RIT students — veteran members of the school’s rugby team — were accused of pressuring new players to drink dangerous amounts of alcohol. The following defendants were found not guilty of first-degree hazing and unlawfully dealing with a child, both misdemeanors: Jennifer P. Salavarrieta of Piscataway, N.J.; Marie E. Krysak of Endicott, Broome County; Kerry E. Gallagher of Stratham, N.H.; Katelyn M. Temple of South Winton Road, Henrietta; and Lindsay L. Thompson of Mamaroneck, Westchester County.

The charges stem from a party in May 2007 after which six RIT students — two men and four women — were hospitalized for heavy drinking. The victims were taken to Strong Memorial Hospital. All recovered, but some spent time in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Three players on the men’s rugby team also were charged in the case. Two of the male defendants pleaded guilty in Henrietta Town Court and were sentenced to community service. The case of a third male defendant was handled in Rochester City Court.

The women’s bench trial took place on Sept. 8 and 9.

“In this court’s opinion, the evidence presented at trial falls far short of the type of specific instances of conduct required for a conviction,” Pericak wrote in his decision.

For example, the only evidence about the organization of the event was an e-mail sent to several of the players. The e-mail noted that the event would involve alcohol, but also said: “If you do not drink alcohol or don’t drink a lot, we can work around that.”

Pericak noted that one of the victims testified that veteran players gave instructions, but she could not recall which one. She was asked why she consumed so much alcohol.

“I thought it would be fun,” she testified, adding she did not feel compelled to drink.

Another victim testified that she could not name any of the veteran players who gave her alcohol. And she testified that she “drank because she chose to.”

Another victim testified that a veteran player who was not charged in the case made her drink alcohol. She also testified that she thought that if she didn’t drink she would be teased or not allowed to play. But Pericak doubted her credibility because of inconsistencies with previous statements.

Thomas A. DeSimon, Gallagher’s lawyer, said in an e-mailed message: “I believe that the decision was thoughtful and well-reasoned.”

From PNA/Kyodo
NAGOYA, Dec. 18 — The Nagoya District Court on Thursday sentenced three sumo wrestlers to two-and-a-half to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for the fatal hazing of a 17-year-old stablemate last year in Aichi Prefecture.

The court also determined that the stablemaster at the time instructed the three to assault Takashi Saito, given the ring name Tokitaizan, and recognized the excessive sparring session they conducted on the teen deviated from normal training and was an illegal act of violence.

Yuichiro Izuka, 26, Masakazu Kimura, 25, and Masanori Fujii, 23, had pleaded guilty but said during their trial that they hazed Saito under the instructions of their then stablemaster Tokitsukaze, whose real name is Junichi Yamamoto.

Yamamoto, 58, is awaiting a separate trial for his involvement in the case.

Prosecutors had demanded three-and-a-half-year prison terms for Izuka and Kimura and a three-year sentence for Fujii for inflicting bodily injuries resulting in Saito’s death.

But the court’s ruling constituted suspended terms of three years each for Izuka and Kimura and two-and-a-half years for Fujii.

The three will not appeal the ruling, their lawyer said.

“The act was contemptible and malicious,” Presiding Judge Masaharu Ashizawa said. “The roles played by each of the three was big, but the stablemaster’s supervision had strong influence and it was difficult for them to disobey him.”

Concerning the assault inflicted on Saito over two days in June 2007, Ashizawa said the three abided by their stablemaster’s instructions seeing that it was “absolute.”

“It cannot be denied that the three wanted to straighten up the victim, but the (stablemaster’s) instructions make up the biggest part in terms of their motive,” the presiding judge said.

Ashizawa also suggested it could be said that corporal punishment was a usual practice at sumo stables.

According to the ruling, the three wrestlers and Yamamoto conspired in beating Saito and subjecting him to excessive exercise at their lodging and training places in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, June 25-26 last year.

On the first day, the three beat Saito, including using a wooden stick to hit him, under instructions from Yamamoto, who was upset that the teenager had fled from their lodging area.

The next morning, they subjected the victim to an excessive sparring session for about 30 minutes, during which they slammed him on the ground and beat him with a metal bat.

Saito collapsed after the sparring session and died at a hospital on the afternoon of June 26, 2007.

The cause of death was initially believed to have been acute heart failure, leading police to determine at first that there was no foul play.

But an autopsy conducted at the request of the victim’s family later revealed that Saito had actually died from shock as a result of multiple trauma.

After another autopsy confirmed the cause of death, police arrested Yamamoto and the three wrestlers in February on suspicion of inflicting injuries resulting in the death of the young wrestler, who joined the Tokitsukaze stable in April 2007. (PNA/Kyodo)

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San Luis Obispo police have released the address of the San Luis Obispo home where an 18-year-old Cal Poly freshman was found unresponsive after a fraternity-related party.

The night before he died, Carson Starkey attended a party hosted by Sigma Alpha Epsilon at 551 Highland Dr.

Police are investigating the role that alcohol played in the tragedy and say that preliminary evidence indicates the fraternity was conducting hazing during Starkey’s initiation into the organization. Police are investigating the role that alcohol may have played in the death and they’re awaiting toxicology results.

Nathan Ellison Sandler, 21, of San Luis Obispo, was arrested Dec. 6 on suspicion of cultivating marijuana. He was booked into County Jail and later released after posting $20,000 bail.

The department has served nine search warrants at nine locations in connection with their investigation, including the Highland home and Starkey’s dorm room.

During the warrant searches, police arrested two residents of a home on Grand Avenue in San Luis Obispo on allegations that are not related to the hazing investigation, according to Capt. Dan Blanke.

They are Charles Timothy Farrell, 21, of San Luis Obispo, and Nathan Ellison Sandler, 21, of San Luis Obispo.

Farrell was arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine and marijuana and Sandler on suspected cultivation of marijuana.

Dead Cal Poly fraternity pledge may have been hazed, police say
Police are focusing on a fraternity’s possible role in the death of 18-year-old pledge Carson Starkey; search warrants are served at members’ homes
By Nick Wilson and Sally Connell
San Luis Obispo police have confirmed they are investigating the death of 18-year-old Cal Poly student Carson Starkey as an alcohol-related hazing incident, focusing on the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Police were called to a San Luis Obispo home at 6:24 a.m. Dec. 2 after fraternity members found Starkey, a pledge, unconscious.

Starkey was taken by ambulance to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The location of the house where Starkey died is being withheld by San Luis Obispo police. Starkey, who is from Austin, Texas, lived in the Cal Poly dorms.

A related search warrant in the case was served Dec. 5 on a San Luis Obispo residence near Cal Poly where fraternity members also live, but police Capt. Dan Blanke said that warrant was not issued at the house where Starkey died. The Dec. 5 search warrant sought information about two male students and was filed by San Luis Obispo police Officer Chad Pfarr, a copy of the warrant shows.

It sought all alcoholic beverages, receipts for alcohol, computers, keyboards, cell phones and other electrical data and storage equipment.

The warrant also sought all Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity doctrines, pledge books, and “related material including new member and initiation processes and/or social activities and video or photographic evidence of such events.”

Pfarr also filed a search warrant Dec. 4 for an undisclosed location in San Luis Obispo, according to Superior Court records, but it remains sealed. Blanke said that “a few search warrants” had been served in connection with the case but declined to say how many.

Police have been tight-lipped about the investigation, and Blanke said part of the reason is that they were trying to interview all of the fraternity members, pledges and others who might have been aware of the incidents leading up to Starkey’s death.

Today is the last day of finals at Cal Poly before the winter break, and Blanke said Thursday that many students have already left the area.

“Fraternity members have circled the wagons,” Blanke said.

Fraternity members contacted by The Tribune have declined to be interviewed.

Possible hazing

Hazing is a general term for any ritualized initiation, but it is specifically identified in the California Penal Code as involving initiation into any student organization.

Hazing can run the gamut from performing uncomfortable or demeaning acts such as eating raw garlic in large quantities to dressing in strange costumes.

But the most notorious and criminal episodes involve fraternities where pledges were required to drink large amounts of alcohol, sometimes with fatal consequences, or to engage in other dangerous behavior.

Examples of other crimes that are being investigated can include supplying alcohol to minors, Blanke said.

Hazing is a violation of Penal Code 245.6, and it can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or a felony if the hazing results in bodily injury or death.

Cal Poly immediately suspended Sigma Alpha Epsilon from all activities until the investigation into Starkey’s death is complete. The local chapter has also been suspended by the national fraternity organization.

Stephen Lamb, associate director of Student Life & Leadership on campus, said the university will take action if any charges are proved true.

“In cases of hazing, the university is looking at it very seriously,” Lamb said. “Suspension, expulsion, all are on the table.”

Lamb said there is a roster of 54 members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, with 17 being pledges or associated members, as Starkey was.

Blanke said Starkey returned from a trip home to Texas on the night of Nov. 30, the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. The night before he died, Starkey attended a party at the house where he was later found unconscious.

The Tribune has formally requested various information related to the investigation, but the city has justified withholding the place of death by saying to release it would impede the investigation. The Tribune has also requested a tape recording of the 911 call for emergency assistance and complaints of violations at the home where Starkey died.

One of the leaders of Cal Poly’s fraternity council, who spoke on condition that his name not be used, said Starkey’s death gives a bad name to much of the good that comes from the Greek system.

He decried hazing, saying the tragedy is a reminder to students to avoid any actions that could lead to death, such as heavy drinking.

“No fraternity should even flirt with the idea of hazing,” he said.