Published 2008-04-15T00:00:00Z”/>
Walter Foley
An appellate court announced April 4 it would hear arguments about the evidence that can be used against two Chico State students and a Butte College student accused of <a href= “http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/sa_staff/hazing_law.html”>hazing</a> fraternity pledges.
The prosecution and defense will meet May 30 to argue if the people of California can be considered the victims in the case, instead of the individual pledges who were allegedly hazed in spring 2007, said Deputy District Attorney Michael Sanderson.
Chico State students Chris Bizot, 24, and Mike Murphy, 23, and Butte College student Matthew Krupp, 24, face misdemeanor charges for allegedly hazing pledges. The men belonged to Beta Theta Pi, which lost university and international recognition after the police were contacted about alleged hazing activities.
Murphy, who is also The Orion’s opinion editor, declined to comment. Bizot and Krupp couldn’t be reached by press time.
The defense requested the prosecution provide good reason why no individuals need to be named at a jury trial to find the defendants guilty, said Bill Mayo, Bizot’s lawyer.
The jury trial, which was scheduled for Monday, will be rescheduled after the court decides whether specific victims need to be named, Mayo said.
If the appellate court rules in favor of the defense, the prosecution will have to appeal to a higher court or prove the pledges were at risk of serious bodily injury.
The prosecution has until April 25 to argue its opposition to the May 30 date, Mayo said. If this happens, the defense will have until May 16 to argue its reply.
Sanderson will oppose the appearance because a person doesn’t need to be physically harmed to prosecute someone for dangerous behavior, he said.
This is comparable to a person who discharges a firearm in public, where no one needs to be shot for an arrest to be made.
Mayo is confident the appellate court will favor the defense since the court has already decided to hear the case, he said.
The 13 pledges, under penalty of perjury, have signed a civil compromise that states they were not at risk of bodily injury, Mayo said. The court rejected the compromise.
“Now we’re going to have a second bite of the apple at the appellate level,” he said.
Krupp, Murphy and Bizot allegedly forced pledges to submerge themselves to their necks in a bathtub filled with ice water, locked them in a stairwell closet, threw beer and “other disgusting things” at them and allegedly forced them to run through mud and do calisthenics, said District Attorney Mike Ramsey.
Sanderson got that information from a police investigation but could not comment further, he said.
None of the activities the students are accused of could be considered hazing, Mayo said.
Calisthenics in the mud, especially given the athletic background of Beta Theta Pi, is not likely to cause serious bodily injury, which has to be proven in order to penalize them for a hazing crime, he said.
“They’re all great guys,” Mayo said. “I really believe in these guys, and I’m pushing for them.”
This is the first case to be tried under Matt’s Law, which was passed in 2006 after 21-year-old Chico State student <a href= “http://www.wemissyoumatt.com”>Matthew Carrington</a> died of water intoxication in a hazing ritual at an unrecognized fraternity in 2005.
Mayo thinks the Carrington incident, although tragic, has caused many people, including the prosecution, to have too broad a definition of hazing, he said.
Debbie Smith, Carrington’s mother, was the first to contact Ramsey after hearing hazing had allegedly taken place, she said.
She heard about it from her boss, who has a niece and nephew attending Chico State, and from a co-worker, whose son headed Beta Theta Pi in the 1980s, she said.
“Do we really have to wait until someone dies to punish them under Matt’s Law?” she said. “They’re just fortunate no one died this time.”
Walter Foley can be reached at<a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>
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