Categories
Hazing News

Powerful Sun-Sentinel video of sentencing

Five young men have accepted a plea deal and will serve jail time for the hazing death of a Florida State University student from South Florida.

The men originally faced up to five years in prison for a felony hazing charge before agreeing to plead guilty to a misdemeanor hazing charge.

Four of the men — Kyle Bauer, Brett Birmingham, Christopher Hamlin and John Ray — will serve 60-day jail sentences and a fifth, Conner Ravelo, will serve 30 days after cooperating with the investigation, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

The men were in the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, where 20-year-old Andrew Coffey died of alcohol poisoning in November.

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.

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

Leave a Reply