Aug 16, 2007 1:49 pm US/Eastern
Rider Student, Administrator Plead 'Not Guilty'
Charged With Aggravated Hazing
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ―
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Gary DeVercelly, 18, of Long Beach, Calif., died on March 30 after a night of heavy drinking at a fraternity party.
CBS
A Rider University administrator and a student charged with aggravated hazing in the drinking death of a fraternity pledge pleaded not guilty on Thursday.
Ada Badgley, 31, the university's director of Greek life, and Dominic Olsen, 21, pledge master for the Phi Kappa Tau house's spring 2007 pledge class, did not speak during their hearings.
They are among five administrators and students charged in connection with the death of Gary DeVercelly Jr., 18, of Long Beach, Calif. The three others have already pleaded not guilty.
DeVercelly had a blood-alcohol level of 0.426 percent, or more than five times New Jersey's legal limit for driving, when he was pronounced dead March 30, authorities have said. He died one day after drinking at a party at the Phi Kappa Tau house on the private school's campus in central New Jersey.
Experts say the case is one of the first where university officials have been criminally charged over a suspected hazing.
Those who have already pleaded not guilty in the case include Anthony Campbell, 52, Rider's dean of students; Adriano DiDonato, 22, a student who was also fraternity's house manager; and Michael J. Torney, 21, who was president of the Phi Kappa Tau's Rider chapter, which has since been closed.
The party, according to prosecutors, was a special event in which pledges such as DeVercelly would drink large quantities of hard liquor with fraternity brothers.
Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph Bocchini Jr. has declined to elaborate on why the two administrators would be charged over a suspected hazing death at a party they weren't present at.
Bocchini has merely said that he's standing by a grand jury's decision to indict. He's also pointed out that the criminal code lists facilitating as one of the things that can lead to a hazing charge.
Both Campbell and Badgley are presently on a paid, 30-day leave from Rider to prepare their legal defenses. Rider President Mordechai Rozanski said earlier this week that the university would decide what to do next when the administrators' leave ends in mid-September.
After the Thursday morning hearing, Badgley's lawyer, Mariana Rossman, rushed her client away from the courthouse, telling reporters along the way that Badgley would be exonerated.
Olsen's lawyer, Michael Murphy, said his client wasn't present when DeVercelly was drinking.
Murphy said the criminal charge has been difficult for Olsen, a finance major who plans to start his senior year at Rider this fall.
"We'll get through it," Murphy said. "We'll just have to see what the prosecutor has."
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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