ORLANDO, Florida -- Former FAMU drum major Rikki Wills apologized to Robert Champion's parents today for his role in the fatal hazing of their son and then received five years probation.
Wills, who was Champion's roommate at Florida A&M University, also was ordered to serve a year of community control, a sanction similar to house arrest.
He and Shawn Turner, who will be sentenced later today, were two of the six student leaders of FAMU's Marching 100 in November 2011. They insist they were trying to shield fellow drum major Champion from the blows that killed him during the ritual aboard a charter bus parked at the Rosen Plaza hotel in Orlando.
Turner is not expected to draw a prison sentence either, assistant state attorney Nicole Pegues said.
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FAMU Drum Major Sentenced to House Arrest in Hazing Death
ORLANDO, Florida -- One of the former Florida A&M University drum majors charged in the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion was sentenced today to house arrest and probation for his role in his bandmate's death.
Rikki Wills, 25, was one of the five drum majors who led Champion's funeral march, escorting his casket during the funeral.
Champion, 26, was a member of the college's famed "Marching 100" band when he collapsed and died Nov. 19, 2011 on a bus parked outside an Orlando, Fla., hotel after a football game.
The death was ruled a homicide and Champion's torso was covered with bruises that were inflicted during a brutal hazing ritual that contributed to his death, according to investigators.
Wills was sentenced to one year of "community control"--a formal name for house arrest--and five years of state probation.
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