Felony Hazing Charges Dismissed in Frat Death Case

[JohnnieHolmesNole]

A Tallahassee Judge on Friday dismissed felony hazing charges against 3 of the defendants in the Andrew Coffey case. The Judge is allowing mismedeanor hazing charges to go forward. The state attorney says he will appeal this dismissal ruling.

Will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Obviously a horrible tragedy, but whether anyone committed a crime remains to be seen.

 

[ericram]

Would have to see how the hazing law is interpreted here.

 

[JohnnieHolmesNole]

Would have to see how the hazing law is interpreted here.

Agree. Seemingly it requires some overt conduct that is targeted at a specific person or group of persons. Whether that happened here I do not know, but the trial judge said “causation is too attenuated.” Makes me think the Judge said the conduct of these 3 kids was not sufficiently “connected” to Coffey’s tragic death.

Seemingly the law requires something more than simply being at the scene of a horrible event.

 

[ericram]

It seems not to be murder by hazing but I definitely see manslaughter. They forced him to drink and did little or nothing to save him along the way to death. Certainly the appeal court should shed some clarity to this. This will be important going forward on how the law is applied.

 

[JohnnieHolmesNole]

It seems not to be murder by hazing but I definitely see manslaughter. They forced him to drink and did little or nothing to save him along the way to death. Certainly the appeal court should shed some clarity to this. This will be important going forward on how the law is applied.

You may know something I don’t. Did they “make him drink”? If so, they will be convicted of something, I suspect. Not fighting with you — and love your posts — so I am just asking about a factual issue as to which I have zero insight. I despise that this happened, but it was never clear to me that anyone committed a crime. Maybe they did, and, if so, they should be punished. But if it was just 20 kids acting like idiots with no one being coerced against their will, I am not sure about the prosecution.

 

[ericram]

You may know something I don’t. Did they “make him drink”? If so, they will be convicted of something, I suspect. Not fighting with you — and love your posts — so I am just asking about a factual issue as to which I have zero insight. I despise that this happened, but it was never clear to me that anyone committed a crime. Maybe they did, and, if so, they should be punished. But if it was just 20 kids acting like idiots with no one being coerced against their will, I am not sure about the prosecution.

I think wrong phrasing. I was under the impression that as part of the party the frat brothers "encouraged" he to drink more when he clearly was very intoxicated, but I could be wrong.

 

[JohnnieHolmesNole]

I think wrong phrasing. I was under the impression that as part of the party the frat brothers "encouraged" he to drink more when he clearly was very intoxicated, but I could be wrong.

We will find out in due course. It is possible that the Judge made this ruling so that the whole mess could go to the appellate court for guidance. Honestly not sure there are any reported decisions under this relatively new statute.

 

[Random_John]

Is a hazing drinking death like getting diabetes and fat from McDonalds because neither of the charged parties made the other party do the bad for their health thing?

 

[LT4PLY]

I think wrong phrasing. I was under the impression that as part of the party the frat brothers "encouraged" he to drink more when he clearly was very intoxicated, but I could be wrong.

In college I was encouraged to drink while I was clearly intoxicated. I said no. It's called personal responsibility. The number one person that watches out for you is you.

 

[Spenser1]

I think wrong phrasing. I was under the impression that as part of the party the frat brothers "encouraged" he to drink more when he clearly was very intoxicated, but I could be wrong.

THIS. Hazing does NOT require that someone be 'forced' to drink. Read the definition of hazing.