Florida university slammed for defense in hazing death case

Florida university slammed for defense in hazing death case
By Barbara Liston
Reuters
Sep 11, 2012

(Reuters) - The family of a Florida A&M University drum major killed in a brutal hazing ritual is "appalled" by the university's claim that the student was responsible for his own death, their lawyer said on Tuesday.

"We are appalled at the audacity of this institution to blame this murder on the victim," said Christopher Chestnut, lawyer for the parents of drum major Robert Champion Jr.

He spoke in reaction to the motion lawyers for Florida A&M filed in Orange County Circuit Court on Monday, when they called for dismissal of the Champion family's wrongful death lawsuit.

The motion said the 26-year-old Champion volunteered to be hazed, in a bid to gain respect from fellow band members, and thus was responsible for his own death.

"Robert Champion, Jr. expressly assumed the risk of the hazing injuries that caused his death," wrote FAMU lawyer Richard Mitchell, in the bluntly worded court filing on Monday.

FAMU also argues that Champion, by submitting to hazing, was an active participant in a forcible felony which makes his family ineligible to win a lawsuit against the university.

"No Florida public university or college has a legal duty to protect an adult student from the result of their own decision to participate in a dangerous crime while off-campus and after retiring from university-sponsored events, as Robert Champion, Jr. did here," Mitchell said.

Chestnut, however, said the issue was not Champion's age but peer group pressure and the university's internal culture.

"There are cultural pressures within the college that is allowed here that basically facilitate this culture. For you to succeed and thrive, part of being in college and in the band is being accepted," Chestnut said.

The university has acknowledged that hazing was a longstanding problem in the band, but Chestnut said it was important to note that Champion was the first band member killed by the ritual.

"Anyone in a hazing has the expectation that I may get hurt but no one expects to be killed...

Some people are too important to expect them to follow the law

Driver kills boy on bike, sues boy’s parents
by Sarah Goodyear
Grist.org
15 Nov 2010

[Story #1]

Woke up this morning to a truly depressing story in my Twitter feed. It's about a man serving a 10-year sentence for killing a 14-year-old boy with his car in Prospect, Conn. The boy, Matthew Kenney, was riding his bike in the road when, according to prosecutors, David Weaving tried to overtake another vehicle at 83 miles per hour in a 45-hour zone. He was convicted of manslaughter in the case.

Now Weaving is suing the boy's family for not making their son wear a helmet (bike helmets are mandatory for kids under the age of 15 in Connecticut, but not wearing one does not constitute a violation under state law).

That's right. The man is suing the parents of the boy he was convicted of killing for "contributory negligence."

Before killing Kenney with his car, Weaving was convicted four times for driving drunk. He got his license back every time...


[Story #2]

...[A] high-end financial manager named Martin Joel Erzinger... allegedly hit a man on a bicycle with his car and then fled the scene. Erzinger was allowed by the Eagle County District Attorney to avoid a felony charge in the case:

"Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession, and that entered into it," Hurlbert said. "When you're talking about restitution, you don't want to take away his ability to pay."

This despite the fact that the man allegedly hit by Erzinger, Dr. Steven Milo, had let the DA know that money wasn't an issue as far as he was concerned:

Milo wrote in a letter to District Attorney Mark Hurlbert that the case "has always been about responsibility, not money."

"Mr. Erzinger struck me, fled and left me for dead on the highway," Milo wrote. "Neither his financial prominence nor my financial situation should be factors in your prosecution of this case."

Milo was left with spinal cord injuries, bleeding on the brain, and damage to his knee. Erzinger was left facing misdemeanor charges...