Alec Wetzler sentenced to two days in jail, $500 fine related to fraternity hazing event
Alec Wetzler was handcuffed at the conclusion of his Thursday sentencing hearing in Boone County Circuit Court to serve his two days in jail.
Wetzler, of St. Louis, was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity at the University of Missouri on Oct. 19, 2021, when it held an unsanctioned hazing event involving consumption of large amounts of alcohol by pledges.
Wetzler pleaded guilty to misdemeanor providing alcohol to a minor and possession of alcohol by a minor in connection with the event, but unlike other defendants, he was not charged with hazing.
During the incident, freshman pledge Danny Santulli became unresponsive and was resuscitated by personnel at University of Missouri Hospital. The alcohol poisoning caused brain damage that left Santulli unable to speak, walk or talk.
He's under constant care by his parents at their home in Minnesota.
"We know that one person nearly died due to this alcohol hazing event," said assistant prosecutor John McKenzie.
Santulli, Santulli's family and the community were "irreparably injured" by the event, he said.
Wetzler didn't offer aid to pledges but instead gave them more alcohol, McKenzie said.
Santulli wasn't the victim in Wetzler's case, a point Wetzler's attorney Rusty Antel, brought up repeatedly. Wetzler's victim was a fraternity pledge identified only with the initials R. E.
"Essentially what they want to do is punish him for what he's not being charged with," Antel said in court.
Wetzler was expelled from MU, his attorney said. He is employed and enrolled at another school, taking online courses.
"He takes responsibility for what he has done," Antel said.
There's a reason why the allegations are crimes, McKenzie said.
"The defendant actively participated in an alcohol hazing event," McKenzie said.
Screen shots from video surveillance from the fraternity at the hazing show Wetzler holding a beer bong - a funnel in which beer is poured connected to a tube in a person's mouth. The beer was consumed that way by Santulli and other pledges.
"There is direct involvement," Judge Stephanie Morrell said in sentencing Wetzler. "It wasn't just buying a bottle of alcohol for one of your friends."
There has to be consequences for actions, Morrell said.
"You will still have a future," Morrell said. "You will still do great things in your life."
The two day shock jail time was less than the 15 days suggested by the prosecution.
Wetzler also was fined $500. He's to be on unsupervised probation for two years. Morrell ordered Wetzler not to possess or consume alcohol or intoxicating substances and to stay out of bars and liquor stores.
Wetzler is the third defendant to be sentenced related to the hazing event.
Trial dates so far have been set for Samuel Morrison, Sept. 26; Ryan Delanty, Dec. 5; Samuel Lane, Dec. 19; Benjamin Parres, Jan. 23, 2024; and John O'Neill, Jan. 30, 2024.
Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Alec Wetzler sentenced after guilty pleas to misdemeanors
