Criminal charges have been dropped against five men who were accused of “hazing” in connection with the death of a Virginia Commonwealth University student last year.
Prosecutors confirmed that the charges were dropped, but they did not provide a reason as to why, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The five men — Riley McDaniel, Robert Fritz, Alexander Bradley, Alessandro Medina-Villanueva and Quinn Kuby — had been charged with misdemeanor hazing in the case of Adam Oakes.
Oakes was a VCU freshman from Loudoun County who died of alcohol poisoning following a Delta Chi fraternity party during which he took part in a “big brother” ritual where he was told to drink excessively, including an entire handle or 1.75-liter bottle of Jack Daniels. That’s equivalent of 39 1.5-ounce shots.
The university permanently removed Delta Chi from campus after the incident.
Of the six other men charged, three were found guilty — Andrew White, Christian Rohrbach and Jason Mulgrew.
The three others — Colin Tran, Enayat Sheikhzad and Benjamin Corado — can potentially have their charges dismissed as long as they meet the terms of their plea deals.
“He was just a lovable teddy bear,” said Courtney White, Oakes’ cousin.
“I mean, he was the sweetest thing that you could ever imagine. He loved and cared about everyone and took care of everybody.”
The Adam Oakes case led to new legislation in Virginia called “Adam’s Law.”
It passed both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly earlier this year and was signed into law by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Under the law, all fraternity and sorority members across the state must receive mandatory training on hazing and alcohol poisoning.
“They tried to get him to throw up … He couldn’t throw up like physically — he just wasn’t able to throw up the alcohol. And they drug him back into the house and they left him on the cold, hard floor,” White told WTOP.
“When the medical examiner checked his blood alcohol content, it was 0.419. It’s five times the legal limit,” said White.