Champion Family Responds to Evidence Release
Thursday, May 24, 2012
By: Nicole Creston

May 24, 2012 | WMFE - Florida A & M University drum major Robert Champion's parents are speaking out about Wednesday's newly-released evidence relating to their son's beating death. In one of many witness interviews, a defendant claims Champion requested the hazing that claimed his life.

Champion was found unresponsive on a FAMU marching band bus after the Florida Classic in Orlando last November. He'd been beaten with fists, drumsticks and bass drum mallets by fellow band members, according to thousands of pages of evidence released by Orange County prosecutors. Eleven people are facing felony charges in connection with Champion's death. Two others are charged with misdemeanors.

Head drum major Jonathan Boyce is among those facing felony charges. He told investigators Champion had been asking for the hazing for months in order to gain respect within the band.

Champion’s parents have maintained that their son was hazed because he opposed the practice. 
 
“He was murdered on that bus," Champion's mother Pam said Wednesday when asked about Boyce's statement. "And no one signs up for that."
 
Champion family attorney Christopher Chestnut criticized FAMU’s administration, especially president James Ammons, for failing to stop the culture of hazing in FAMU's Marching 100 band that Champion's November death exposed.
 
“A young man was murdered and nothing has happened. No change,” Chestnut said. “So in six months, if he hasn’t done it, he’s not going to do it, let’s get somebody in there who can do it, and maybe we can get the band back on the field. But right now, this isn’t a safe band. That’s why it can’t march.”
 
The Marching 100 is suspended for the next school year. The band’s longtime director, Dr. Julian White, stepped down two weeks ago.