2 Cal Polytechnic frat members get jail, probation for alcohol hazing death of pledge

Calif. frat members get jail time for hazing death

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Two California Polytechnic State University fraternity members have been sentenced to jail for the fatal hazing of an 18-year-old pledge whose blood-alcohol content was equivalent to surgical anesthesia.

The San Luis Obispo County district attorney’s office says 23-year-old Zacary Ellis and 21-year-old Haithem Ibrahim pleaded no contest to misdemeanor hazing Tuesday. Ellis must serve 120 days in county jail and Ibrahim 45 days. Both were placed on three years of probation.

Carson Starkey died in December 2008 after drinking a bag of alcoholic drinks within 90 minutes in a hazing ritual by the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. The freshman from Austin, Texas, had a blood-alcohol level between 0.39 percent and 0.44 percent.

Charges are pending against two other fraternity members.