Rider dean pleads not guilty in hazing death

Rider dean pleads not guilty in hazing death
by Tom HesterThursday August 09, 2007, 3:50 PM



Anthony Campbell, one of two Rider University officials accused in a precedent-setting indictment stemming from the fraternity binge drinking death of a freshman pledge in March, pleaded not guilty today to a charge of aggravated hazing.


Campbell, 51, of Lawrence, is the school's dean of students. He and Ada Badgley, 31, also of Lawrence, the director of Greek life, and three student Phi Kappa Tau fraternity student leaders are charged with aggravated hazing in the death of 18-year-old fraternity pledge, Gary DeVercelly of Long Beach, Calif.

The indictment of Campbell and Badgley marks the first time in the United States that college officials have been accused of playing a role in a hazing death. Authorities said they were not present in the Phi Kappa Tau frat house on the university's Lawrence campus on the night DeVercelly drank himself into a coma during a pledge hazing. He later died in a Trenton hospital. A Mercer County grand jury contended Campbell and Badgley should have done more to prevent underage drinking on campus.

With his attorney, Rocco Cipparone Jr., at his side, Campbell pled not guilty before Superior Court Judge Andrew J. Smithson at the Mercer County Courthouse in Trenton. The judge then released him without bail.

Adriano DiDonato, 22, of Princeton, the fraternity's student residence director, pleaded not guilty Wednesday. Badgley and Dominic Olden, 21, of Kenilworth, the fraternity pledge master, are expected to be in court next week. Michael Torney, 21, of Randolph, the fraternity president, will enter his plea on Friday.

'I think it is unusual," Cipparone said of the hazing charge against Campbell. "I expect at the end of the process we will see the full exoneration of Dr. Campbell."

Cipparone added, "Dr. Campbell is obviously distressed by the charge being leveled against him but the indictment is devoid of any factual allegation of what he can be held criminally responsible."

Cipparone described the case as "One of first ... when an administrator who did not take part in the alleged hazing is charged with it. I am not aware of any precedent."

link to report - http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2007/08/rider_dean_pleads_not_guilty_i.html