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Evidence: Drum Major Beaten to Death with Sticks and Mallets


May 23, 2012 | WMFE - FAMU drum major Robert Champion was beaten to death with fists, drum sticks and drum mallets on the band's bus last November. That's part of the evidence contained in more than 2,000 pages of documents released today by the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office.

 [Image: Robert Champion]

One of the defendants, head drum major Jonathan Boyce, says Champion had asked repeatedly to be subjected to two long-standing band hazing rituals. Boyce told prosecutors that band members considered the hazing a way to gain respect in the band. According to the documents, two other band members underwent the hazing the same night Champion died.

The evidence documents describe the two hazing rituals. The first is the "hot seat," in which the person being hazed crouches and is covered with a blanket and beaten. The next ritual is known as "crossing Bus C," named after the bus used by the marching band's percussion section. The person being hazed must make his or her way down the aisle from the front to the back of the bus while being pummeled and beaten by fellow band members along the way.

Witness statements say fists, straps, drumsticks, bass drum mallets and even a construction cone were used to beat Champion and the two other band members during the hazing rituals that night.

Robert Champion's parents have said consistently that their son was fiercely opposed to the ritual beatings within the band. Champion's roommate, a member of the band, also told investigators that Champion was not a supporter of hazing, but had mentioned that he may "just get it over with" the night of the incident.

The bus was parked outside the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando after the annual Florida Classic football game at the Citrus Bowl.

Champion's autopsy report listed his cause of death as a homicide as the result of repeated blows to his body. Eleven band members have been charged with felony hazing. Two others were charged with misdemeanors.

The band’s director, Dr. Julian White, announced his retirement earlier this month. The Marching 100 has been suspended for the 2012-2013 school year.

 

 

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