BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on the preliminary hearing for 18 Penn State fraternity brothers accused in the death of a 19-year-old pledge (all times local):
7:10 p.m.
A hearing for 18 Penn State fraternity brothers accused in the death of a 19-year-old pledge has ended for the day.
The hearing on Monday at a courthouse on campus was continued by the judge with the first witness on the stand.
The Beta Theta Pi members and the fraternity itself face the preliminary hearing that will determine if there’s enough evidence to send the case to trial.
Security camera footage of the night Penn State pledge Tim Piazza was fatally injured at a fraternity event was at the center of Monday’s hearing.
The footage showed the 19-year-old from Lebanon, New Jersey, being directed to drink and then falling several times.
Help wasn’t called until the next morning, and Piazza later died of traumatic brain injuries.
Some defendants face charges of aggravated assault and involuntary manslaughter. Others are accused of less serious crimes
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5:35 p.m.
The lawyer for the family of a Penn State sophomore who died after a fall at a fraternity house calls video from that night horrific and painful to watch.
Attorney Tom Kline says the security footage shown in a court proceeding Monday shows Tim Piazza’s suffering and a callous response by members of Beta Theta Pi.
Kline calls the tape the most horrific thing he’s seen as a lawyer.
He’s representing the parents of the 19-year-old Piazza, who died after a fall Feb. 2 at the house during a night of drinking.
The tape shows Piazza writhing in apparent agony. Doctors say he suffered severe head and abdominal injuries.
No one called for help for nearly 12 hours after he was first injured. The footage shows him repeatedly falling and striking his head.
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3:15 p.m.
Surveillance video played at a hearing for 18 Penn State fraternity members accused in the death of a pledge shows the sophomore in apparent agony in the hours after falling down basement steps.
Selections from the grainy footage start with 19-year-old Tim Piazza joining other pledges going station to station in a drinking “gauntlet” on Feb. 2, and proceed to show him staggering around the frat house, visibly drunk.
After the fall, he’s seen repeatedly slamming his head into walls and floors, later clutching his head and midsection in apparent agony.
Some frat brothers try to restrain him at times throughout the evening and put a backpack on him to keep him upright so he wouldn’t choke on his own vomit.
The hearing Monday is to determine if enough evidence exists for the case to go to trial.
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11:20 a.m.
A detective testifying at a hearing for 18 Penn State fraternity brothers accused in the death of a 19-year-old pledge says the student looked like a corpse in surveillance video from the frat house.
State College Police Detective David Scicchitano says sophomore Tim Piazza “looked dead, he looked like a corpse” in footage showing frat brothers carrying him upstairs the morning after a pledge event.
A judge at the hearing Monday will determine if enough evidence exists for the case to proceed.
Video shot inside the Beta Theta Pi house is being shown from the night the pledge, from Lebanon, New Jersey, was fatally injured in a series of falls.
The defendants face various charges, with some accused of involuntary manslaughter and felony aggravated assault.
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