Two former Pennsylvania State University fraternity members involved in a 2017 fraternity hazing case in which student Tim Piazza died have entered guilty pleas, bringing closure to a case that has dragged on for more than seven years, Pennsylvania’s attorney general announced Tuesday.
Brendan Young, who had been president of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, and Daniel Casey, who had been vice president and pledge master, both have pleaded guilty to 14 counts of hazing and one count of reckless endangerment — all misdemeanors, according to the office of Attorney General Michelle Henry.
Young, 28, who had been from Malvern at the time of the incident, and Casey, 27, who had been from Ronkonkoma, N.Y., “participated in and facilitated the hazing event,” the attorney general’s office said.
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The case drew national attention as video surveillance from the fraternity house on the night Piazza was fatally injured was played in court, showing Piazza and others moving through a drinking obstacle course and chugging alcohol. The video also showed Piazza in the early morning staggering and falling in the fraternity house, dropping to his knees, and clutching his injured head, and no one helping him.
Casey and Young are due to be sentenced Oct. 1. Jim and Evelyn Piazza, Tim Piazza’s parents, will appear in court to provide their victim impact statements, said their attorney Thomas R. Kline.
“I’m relieved that this matter has been settled and that they have admitted to both hazing and recklessly endangering our son,” Jim Piazza said. “And while that doesn’t do anything to bring him back, it’s certainly great to have this behind us.”
Penn State in a statement said: “We are relieved that justice has been served, and the university continues to mourn Timothy Piazza’s tragic death.”
