UDel Wrongful Death Trial Underway

An attorney for the parents of a University of Delaware fraternity pledge who died of alcohol poisoning says pledges were forced to engage in dangerous and demeaning behavior by fraternity leaders.

Jurors heard opening arguments Tuesday in a wrongful death suit filed by the parents of 18-year-old Brett Griffin of Kendall Park, N.J., who died in November 2008.
 
The Griffins claim that the president and pledgemaster of the Delta Lambda chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu planned and approved of the hazing of fraternity pledges
 
But attorneys for former fraternity president Jason Matthew Aaron and former pledgemaster Matthew P. Siracusa say their clients did not force Griffin or anyone else to drink.
 
Griffin had a blood-alcohol level of .341 when he died, more than four times the threshold for drunken driving.

 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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