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Newsletter > June 2015 > "22 Students Convicted in Hazing Death"
22 Students Convicted in Hazing Death
Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com
Some two and a half years after the death of David Bogenberger, 22 former members of the Pi Kappa Alpha Chapter at Northern Illinois University stand convicted of misdemeanor hazing in what the state’s attorney called the largest hazing prosecution in U.S. history.
Bogenberger died of alcohol poisoning after he and other pledges went room to room being required to respond to questions from those who were supposed to become their brothers and to down alcohol shots.
According to the May 8, 2015 Chicago Tribune1, each of the 22 were found guilty following brief bench trials. Five of the officers had been charged with felonies, but were found guilty of only misdemeanor reckless conduct and the other 17 were convicted of misdemeanor hazing. Each received fines, are required to perform 100 hours of community service and spend 24 months on either “supervision or conditional discharge.”
Before sentencing, Bogenberger’s parents spoke to the court. The Tribune quotes his mother, Ruth Bogenberger, as saying:
“On November 2, 2012, 22 men pledging to be David’s brothers for life, ridiculed, tormented, poisoned and killed him. The human decency that most of us would render to a sick animal, these self-proclaimed ‘brothers’ would not even extend to a young man that they pledged a lifelong brotherhood to.”
1 Chicago Tribune, May 8, 2015, article by Don Troop (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-niu-hazing-death-hearing-met-20150508-story.html).