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Two of five found guilty of felony in FAMU hazing

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 16, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Jurors Friday convicted two of five Florida A&M University fraternity brothers of felony hazing by participating in initiation rites, but they could not reach a verdict on three defendants.

Michael Morton, 23, of Fort Lauderdale, and Jason Harris, 23, of Jacksonville, were convicted. Circuit Judge Kathleen Dekker declared a mistrial for Brian Bowman, 23, of Oakland, Calif.; Cory Gray, 23, of Montgomery, Ala.; and Marcus Hughes, 21, of Fort Lauderdale.

Morton, former president of the Kappa Alpha Psi chapter, was accused with Bowman, Gray and Hughes of striking aspiring pledge Marcus Jones, 20, of Decatur, Ga., during the initiation about nine months ago. Harris was accused of facilitating the hazing by encouraging Jones to bear up and then reviving him when he passed out from pain.

In the first test of a new state law making hazing a third-degree felony when it results in "serious bodily injury," another jury deadlocked in October. The panel couldn't decide whether Jones suffered injuries that could be called serious.

"They beat Marcus Jones with canes so severely he needed surgery to remove a hematoma about the size of a can of Coca-Cola from his buttocks," Assistant State Attorney Frank Allman said in his closing argument before jurors started deliberating Friday afternoon.

Jones, who testified Thursday while seated on a small pillow, also suffered a broken eardrum from being slapped, but that injury has healed.

Defense lawyers cited their expert witness who testified the buttocks injury was not serious and that surgery was unnecessary because the bruising could have been treated with ice packs.

"Serious bodily injury" is not more fully defined in the law passed in 2005. At the first trial, Dekker simply instructed jurors that serious meant more than slight or moderate. This time she told the new jury it means "dangerous, grave, grievous or great as distinguished from slight."

[Last modified December 16, 2006, 01:13:09]