Penn State frat members will not be charged in student's suicide
By David DeKok
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - Members of a Penn State University fraternity will not face criminal charges for hazing a student who later committed suicide, after a grand jury found no evidence connecting the incidents, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said on Tuesday.
Marquise Braham, 18, jumped from a building to his death in March 2014. His father, who has sued the school, the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity and four of its members, says Braham appeared to suffer a breakdown following abusive hazing.
"The grand jury found no evidence of a link between the fraternity pledging process and Braham's death," Kane said in a statement.
Penn State suspended the fraternity chapter after Braham's death. Representatives for the university and for the fraternity's parent organization did not respond to requests for comment.
In a statement, the Braham family said it was "disappointed, though not surprised," and accused Penn State of withholding crucial evidence of Marquise Braham's mental state from the grand jury.
"The civil suit filed by the family will bring out the truth and compel justice for Marquise and his family," the statement said.
Lawyers for four students named as defendants in the civil case either did not respond to requests for comment or did not immediately comment on the grand jury decision.
Braham threw himself off the roof of a hotel in Uniondale, New York, during spring break, months after he pledged the fraternity in the fall of 2013.
The grand jury interviewed 11 witnesses, including the director of student affairs for Penn State's Altoona campus, where Braham was a student.
The jury's report chronicled a series of harsh hazing rites for the fraternity's prospective members, including being forced to drink dozens of beers and then vomit them up and having to endure verbal and physical abuse during "hell week" without showering or sleeping.
Braham was later elected secretary of the fraternity and appeared to be close to his fellow members, the grand jury said.
His father, Rich Braham, a managing editor at ABC News, filed a lawsuit against Penn State and the fraternity asserting the school ignored signs that Marquise Braham was in psychological crisis because of the hazing.
(Reporting by David DeKok; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Andrew Hay and Steve Orlofsky)
