ORLANDO, Florida -- Thirteen people have been charged with hazing crimes in the beating death of Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion, a Florida prosecutor announced Wednesday.
State Attorney Lawson Lamar said 11 people are accused of death with hazing, a third-degree felony punishable by up to six years for defendants with no criminal record. Two defendants face misdemeanor charges in the November death aboard a band bus in Orlando.
May. 2, 2012 - A prosecutor says 13 people will be charged in the death of Florida A&M university drum major who died after being beaten during a hazing ritual in November. 26-year-old Robert Champion died aboard a bus parked outside a hotel.
The state also has filed 20 counts of misdemeanor hazing against others in unrelated incidents. Lamar declined to identifiy those charged because they are in multiple jurisdictions and have not yet been arrested.
"I have come to believe that hazing is a form of bullying," Lamar said at a news conference in Orlando. "It's bullying with a tradition."
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13 charged in FAMU hazing death
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (NSF) - Thirteen people have been charged in the hazing death of Robert Champion, the drum major for Florida A&M University's "Marching 100" whose death shook the university and led to the suspension of the iconic band.
Eleven individuals were each charged with a single count of hazing resulting in death, a third-degree felony, and two counts of hazing, a first-degree misdemeanor, according to information released by the office of State Attorney Lawson Lamar. Two more people were each charged with a single count of hazing.
Lamar's office didn't immediately release the names of those charged, saying they were concerned that doing so might prompt the defendants to flee. One defendant is in custody and authorities across the state and in Georgia were working to arrest the other 12 individuals.
In a nationally televised press conference, Lamar called Champion's death "homicide by hazing" but said he couldn't charge the defendants with murder because the death couldn't be linked to a single act. The maximum prison time for hazing resulting in death is six years.
Lamar also suggested that the investigation was continuing.
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Charges Filed in Hazing Death of Florida A&M Drum Major
ORLANDO, Florida - Florida state prosecutors have filed 13 felony charges and 20 misdemeanor hazing charges against students who allegedly took part in the beating death of Florida A&M band drum major Robert Champion. But because the medical examiner concluded his death was not caused by any single blow, no murder or manslaughter charges were filed.
At a press conference on Wednesday, state attorney Lawson Lamar said the students were charged under a 2011 Florida statute that defines hazing and labels it a felony and administers more severe punishment if the hazing results in injury or death. The suspects, all FAMU students, were not named because all but one are at large. That student is currently in custody.
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