“YOU KILLED MATTHEW WILLIAM CARRINGTON”

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com

According to published reports, that is what the father of the deceased pledge of the Chi Tau Fraternity at California State University said in court at the time four members of the Fraternity were sentenced to jail after a hazing incident ended in a tragic death.

In a courtroom packed with national media and friends and relatives of Matt Carrington, the four members of the now defunct fraternity chapter expressed their regret, “I will live with the consequences of this hazing for the rest of my life.”  Those expressions of regret did not change the fact that, “my son is just gone and there’s nothing that will ever bring him back,” as Matthew’s father said.

On February 2, 2005, in the basement of the fraternity house with fans blowing to intensify the chill, Carrington and another pledge were ordered to chug from a five gallon jug of water and pour water over themselves.  According to published reports, the bizarre water torture had become a tradition of the fraternity chapter that had been going on for 20 years.

Under the prodding, Carrington drank too much.  Twenty-one years old at the time, he died of cardiac dysrhythmia caused by water intoxication.

On October 28, 2005, four members of the Fraternity who had pled guilty for their role in Carrington’s death were sentenced to jail and long periods of probation after that.  One of those students, Gabriel Maestretti, was sentenced to a year in jail for involuntary manslaughter.  Two others received six months in jail as accessories to manslaughter.  A fourth, who pled to a misdemeanor of hazing, received a ninety-day jail sentence.  Probation following service of their jail time was as long as five years.

A fifth student had previously plead guilty to a charge of misdemeanor hazing and received a sentence of 30 days in jail.

As a result of Carrington’s death, officials at Chico State banned all Chico State Chapters from recruiting new pledges during this fall semester while new rules were imposed.