GUILTY FL - Robert Champion, 26, FAMU drum major, dies in hazing incident, 19 Nov 2011

It's time to completely disband this band. Murderous thugs. It's like, they knew where to punch him and hopefully not have it evident.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/21/justice/florida-am-investigation/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Thanks for this article, JeannaT! About the autopsy:

(CNN) -- A final autopsy report released Wednesday shows that Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion Jr. suffered muscle damage commonly seen in such events as car accidents, prolonged seizures, child abuse and torture, an expert said.

The alleged fatal beating suffered last month by Champion, 26, during a marching band hazing must have been brutal, two experts said.

"His muscles were beaten so badly that they were destroyed like you would see in a heart attack," Dr. Howard Oliver, a forensic pathologist who is a former deputy medical examiner in the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, told CNN after reviewing the autopsy findings.

Band bus a complex crime scene, expert says

The damaged muscles leaked out a protein called myoglobin, "and it's too much for the kidneys to process. It causes the kidneys to fail," which results in death, Oliver said.

The muscle damage is called rhabdomyolysis, Oliver said.

They know who did this and I hope every one of them is charged with murder...agree about the band...popular or not, if they can't control the people in it who are beating members like this, and the girl that was injured, it needs to go.
 
How investigators might approach FAMU death

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/21/justice/famu-death-investigators/?iref=obinsite

More than a month after the death of Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion, investigators are still piecing together what happened that night aboard the band's charter bus. Their work will determine who among the busload of band members will be held responsible for his death.
------

"They have to take a look at all of the evidence and all of the statements and decide who is going to be charged, and what are they going to be charged with."

Could more than 30 people be charged with murder?

"Yeah, you could, and that's going to be a decision between investigators and the prosecutor's office," Brooks said.


More at link...
 
And the deceased was a large man too. To be beat up as severely as he apparently was wouldn't be that easy (most people don't die from a beating)-and that's hazing? Boggles the mind.
 
Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion was gay, which may have been one reason why he was beaten so severely during a hazing attack in Orlando last semester, the Champion family's attorney said Tuesday.

Attorney Christopher Chestnut, speaking at a news conference with Champion's parents in Orlando, said the family came forward to discuss their son's sexuality because rumors had been swirling that the 26-year-old student was hazed specifically because of his "alternative lifestyle."

(snip)

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/feat...ing-champion-family--20120110,0,1354380.story
 
Four FAMU band members charged with hazing

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/20/2599257/four-famu-band-members-charged.html#storylink=cpy

TALLAHASSEE -- Four members of Florida A&M’s famed Marching 100 band were arrested on charges of hazing late Thursday.

The charges stem from a separate event than the Nov. 19 incident in which drum major Robert Champion died from injuries he sustained from a severe beating after a rivalry football game.

The students — Hakeem Birch, Brandon Benson, Anthony Mingo and Denise Bailey — belonged to a subgroup for clarinetists known as the “Clones,” according to an arrest warrant.

Five band members who wanted to pledge the Clones showed up to a Tallahassee residence, home to roommates Benson and Birch, on around Sept. 1, FAMU police said.

More at link...
 
ACLU Head Questions FAMU's Ban on Student Groups

http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/FAMU_No_Summer_Band_Camp_for_Marching_100_138430964.html

Tallahassee, FL (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is criticizing Florida A&M University's decision to cancel a summer band camp and block students from joining clubs during a hazing investigation.

State ACLU executive director Howard Simon says the move violates students' first amendment rights. He's made a public records request to school President James Ammons for an explanation on the bans announced earlier this week.

Simon says the right for students to gather and discuss various issues must be protected.

Ammons said Tuesday that he's cancelling a summer band camp and temporarily blocking students from joining clubs while the university reviews how those groups operate. The band has come under scrutiny as a probe continues into the hazing-related death of a band member in November.
 
Prosecuting the Champion hazing case could be 'nightmare'

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com..._hazing-death-anti-hazing-veteran-prosecutors

The investigation into the hazing death of Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion is reaching a crucial point as detectives prepare to send Orange County prosecutors their official findings after interviewing more than 50 witnesses.

No one from State Attorney Lawson Lamar's office would discuss details, but legal experts and former prosecutors said the case will be a "nightmare" to sort out because of all of the potential suspects — perhaps 20 or more — who either took part or might have encouraged the brutal beating Champion suffered.
-----

The lead prosecutor will be seasoned homicide attorney Ken Lewis, who has worked on several high-profile murder trials, including that of millionaire developer James Robert "Bob" Ward, found guilty in September of shooting his wife in the face in their Isleworth mansion.

Veteran prosecutors such as Jerry Blair do not envy Lewis.

The Champion case will be especially tough, said Blair, who prosecuted serial killer Ted Bundy. The state, he said, will need to prove who did what aboard the bus that night — using witnesses who are part of a tight-knit group and many of whom probably participated in the hazing themselves.
-----

For instance, some prosecutors take a case to a grand jury simply because it's a matter of "great public interest" — typically those involving elected officials or public institutions or have attracted a lot of media attention. If nothing else, going that route sometimes helps ensure the integrity of a prosecution.

Blair said he would go that route if he were prosecuting the Champion case.

"I think a review by an independent body of 21 people provides some public credibility for the decision-making process that is often absent when a single prosecutor makes a decision," he said, adding that the public would be more likely to accept a decision made by a grand jury, whatever that might be.


More at link....
 
I was just thinking the same thing. If you have a bus full of suspects that allegedly hit this guy and therefore potentially contributed to his demise that might be very difficult to prosecute just because of number of suspects alone. That's probably why there have been no charges so far.
Hopefully they can manage to charge and prosecute though.
 
Robert Champion Case Goes to Prosecutors

http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/Robert_Champion_Case_Goes_to_Prosecutors_144282565.html

........Late this afternoon, the Orange County Sheriff's Office turned over the findings of its investigation to the state attorney there. ...........

A spokeswoman for state attorney Lawson Lamar says they will not comment on the possible outcome of the case or release any public records right now.


Note: The links are only official notices that the report was sent and received.
 
Sheriff: Charges coming in Fla. hazing death

http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?rip_id=<D9UG62380@news.ap.org>&ps=1011

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — At least five people will face criminal charges in the hazing death of a Florida A&M University drum major aboard a band bus in Orlando last fall, authorities said Tuesday.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings told The Associated Press that multiple defendants will be charged in 26-year-old Robert Champion's death, although he refused to say what the charges are.

Prosecutors have built five cases against defendants with charges ranging from misdemeanors to felony charges, said Danielle Tavernier, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney's Office in Orlando. She refused to specify the charges pending an announcement by prosecutors on Wednesday.

Prosecutors sometime cluster defendants by case, meaning the number of defendants could be higher than five, said Bob Dekle, a University of Florida law professor.

More at link....
 
ORLANDO, Fla. -- FAMU drum major Robert Champion's parents are unhappy with the charges in their son's death that were announced Wednesday.

Thirteen people face charges in connection with the beating. Eleven of the suspects face felony hazing charges. Only two were arrested on Wednesday, but more arrests are expected.

Read more: http://www.wesh.com/news/30997009/detail.html#ixzz1to21WTjo
 
Thirteen charged in hazing death of FAMU student Robert Champion

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/02/2780106/thirteen-arrested-in-famu-hazing.html#storylink=cpy

...........The 13 defendants who allegedly took part in the beating death of Robert Champion — a 26-year-old drum major — will face charges of a hazing resulting in death, a third-degree felony, said Orange-Osceola State Attorney Lawson Lamar during a nationally televised news conference in Orlando.

“The death of ... Champion is nothing short of an American tragedy,” Lamar told reporters............

“The testimony obtained to date does not support a charge of murder, in that it does not contain the elements of murder,” Lamar said. “We can prove participation in hazing and a death. We do not have a blow or a shot or a knife thrust that killed Mr. Champion. It is an aggregation of things, which exactly fit the Florida statute as written by the Legislature.”
 
Two Booked at Leon Co. Jail for Hazing Death, One Bonds Out

http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/S...ndings_In_Champion_Hazing_Case_149711095.html

Hazing suspect Rikki Wills has bonded out of the Leon County Jail on $15,000 bond. Caleb Jackson will remain in jail for violating probation.........

There are more arrests in the hazing death of FAMU drum major Robert Champion. Two men have turned themselves in one in Tampa and one in Fort Lauderdale. That's in addition to the two already arrested in Tallahassee.......

There are 13 people facing charges in Robert Champion's death. 11 of them are facing felonies.........

The maximum prison time for hazing resulting in death is six years.

Lamar also suggested that the investigation was continuing.

"However, let me strongly state that I urge anyone who has facts about this homicide to come forth and tell the whole truth, especially those not charged, because further charges may be forthcoming in the future," he said.


More at link....
 
Two FAMU Professors Fired, Linked to Hazing Case

http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/Two_FAMU_Professors_Fired_Accused_149678195.html

Two FAMU professors have resigned in the wake of a hazing scandal at a Tallahassee home.

The university intended to fire them anyway according to a letter signed by the FAMU provost.

The pledge told police that the paddling happened inside the home of FAMU music professor Diron Holloway. He says Holloway - and fellow music professor Anthony Simons - were there. The hazing accusations have now cost them their jobs.

More at link....
 
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/02/2780106/thirteen-arrested-in-famu-hazing.html

...........“The death of ... Champion is nothing short of an American tragedy,” Lamar told reporters. “While Robert and his family were sacrificing and preparing for his entrance into college, an event that should have assured him a bright and meaningful future, no one could have expected that his college experience would include being pummeled to death.”........

Champion’s mother, Pam, of Atlanta, who did not attend the press conference, told The Associated Press that she was glad charges were brought but disappointed they weren’t more severe. “I thought there would be more serious charges,” she said. “I thought it should send a harsher message.”

Lamar, who described the case as “complicated,” said investigators did dozens of interviews with students at the historically black college, but did not have enough evidence to bring murder charges.

“The testimony obtained to date does not support a charge of murder, in that it does not contain the elements of murder,” Lamar said. “We can prove participation in hazing and a death. We do not have a blow or a shot or a knife thrust that killed Mr. Champion. It is an aggregation of things, which exactly fit the Florida statute as written by the Legislature.”


More at link.....
 
10 of 11 charged in FAMU felony hazing turn themselves in to authorities

http://www.wisn.com/news/national/1...es/-/9373390/12567144/-/11nmlc5z/-/index.html

(CNN) -
All but one of 11 people facing felony hazing charges tied to a Florida A&M University band member's death -- including one charged with hazing in another case at the same school -- had turned themselves in by Friday afternoon, a state police spokeswoman said.

Authorities have been in contact with the family, who are in Georgia, of the lone young woman who has been charged but has not yet gone to a Florida jail, said Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, via e-mail.


More at link....
 
Third degree felonies...how sad that is all they are being charged with considering this young man was beaten to death.
 
Third degree felonies...how sad that is all they are being charged with considering this young man was beaten to death.

Again, because so many people were allegedly involved and it was not a single hit that killed this guy but accumulation of all the hits. What the law should do is increase penalties for hazing that results in death.
 

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