Most cases in MSU alleged hazing death dismissed
UPDATE: This story has been updated to include comments from one of the defense attorneys in the case.
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Six of 7 defendants accused of playing a role in the alleged hazing death of Phat Nguyen, 21, in Nov. 2021, have had their cases dismissed in 54-B District Court.
Courtney Thang, Ali Ghazi, David Shim, Hannah Lee, Sumin Yoo, Nicholas Phraxayavong, and Hoang John Pham were all charged and arrested in late January and early February for their alleged roles in Nguyen’s death.
Thang, Shim, Lee, Yoo, Phraxayavong, and Pham had their cases dismissed Friday in 54-B.
Ghazi reached a plea deal on April 17 with prosecutors under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act (HYTA) but under that law, details are not public.
Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane says prosecutors sought an adjournment in the proceedings to provide additional information, or discovery, for the defense attorneys. That included data from 10 cell phones.
“The court would not allow an adjournment so we believed that this was the best course of action,” Dewane tells 6 News by email about the cases. “I anticipate re-filing charges once the discovery is provided to the attorneys.”
He explained the issues with providing information to defense attorneys like this, “There were 10 cellular phones that were seized and forensically downloaded which took up 1.5 terabytes. Our office attempted to make copies for the defense attorneys but the copying process was taking 3 days per phone and were not downloading correctly. Ultimately, we have had to reach out to MSP Technical Services Unit to assist in this endeavor.”
Lansing based defense attorney Dustyn Coontz represents Hoang John Pham. Pham was charged in 2022, but the case was dismissed that same year. Coontz says he sees no new evidence between when his client’s case was dismissed in 2022 and the charging decision in January of this year.
“Best I could tell, literally nothing changed in the case between December of 2021 to May of 2022, when the first decisions were made to September of 2022, when the case was dismissed against my client to January 2024 when the 2nd wave of charges happened to April 26th, 2024, when the these cases were dismissed,” he tells 6 News. “There’s nothing new.”
Two others were charged in 2022 — Ethan Cao, 24, and Andrew Nguyen, 25 — and their cases are still pending.
Police say Nguyen was found in a room in a basement in the 400 block of Stoddard Ave. on Nov. 21, 2021. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Three others were transported to a local hospital with high blood alcohol levels.
“I don’t think any of these people should be charged with crimes,” Coontz says of the 7 defendants. “What happened to Phat, what happened to the victim here — There’s a tragedy and there’s there’s no way around that. But not all tragedies need to end up as criminal cases.”
6 News media partner MLive reports seized cellphone records containing videos of the “crossover” event to celebrate new members of the Pi Alpha Phi fraternity. Those videos showed excessive alcohol consumption, requiring physically demanding or demeaning actions of pledges and forcing the pledges to don women’s t-shirts with the words “I’m Gay” written on them.
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