Two leaders at a Penn State fraternity were sentenced Tuesday to 2-4 months in prison for their roles in the 2017 death of Timothy Piazza at a hazing event.
Brendan Young, 28, and Daniel Casey, 27, will each be on probation for three years after their prison terms end, the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office said. Both men will be eligible for work release.
Young and Casey pleaded guilty in July to 14 misdemeanor counts of hazing and one count of reckless endangerment. Their sentences were not part of any plea deal, according to prosecutors.
Piazza was a 19-year-old sophomore from Lebanon, N.J., when he attended a pledge event at Penn State’s Beta Theta Pi chapter on Feb. 2, 2017. As part of a hazing ritual, Piazza and 13 more pledges were told to drink copious amounts of alcohol.
Investigators found Piazza consumed 18 standard drinks in two hours, and his blood-alcohol content was between 0.28 and 0.36 when he died.
Throughout the night, Piazza fell multiple times. But when other frat brothers found him unconscious, they did not call for help until it was too late. Piazza died two days after the event at a local hospital.
The case led to numerous charges against other members of the fraternity, and Penn State permanently banned the chapter. Young, the fraternity president, and Casey, vice president and pledge master, were the last two members to be sentenced in the case.
“Nothing can undo the harm Tim suffered seven years ago — nothing can bring Tim back to his family and friends,” Attorney General Michelle Henry said in a statement. “With the sentences ordered today, the criminal process reached a conclusion.”
