Indictments Returned in Alleged Hazing Incident

JACKSONVILLE Ala. — A Calhoun County grand jury has returned criminal indictments in connection with an alleged hazing case involving a fraternity at Jacksonville State University.

The incident took place off-campus in November 2011 in Jacksonville, The Anniston Star reports (https://bit.ly/Srkmzw ).

The grand jury is still hearing testimony in its investigation, Calhoun County District Attorney Brian McVeigh said. He said he couldn’t release more information on the indictments until they had been served, a process which he said could take one to two weeks.

The district attorney also said he could not yet name the fraternity or the individuals involved. He said the indictments stem from a Nov. 26, 2011 incident, in which seven pledges were allegedly hazed, two of whom ended up in the hospital.

Jacksonville State has dismissed the fraternity from campus, university Provost Rebecca Turner said. She declined to name the fraternity.

“We took a sanction that was serious enough that they can’t engage in any activity on campus or off,” Turner said.

In a civil lawsuit filed in July Calhoun County Circuit Court, Jason Horton maintains that he was hazed for about five hours when he was a pledge at the fraternity.

Fraternity members forced pledges to consume large quantities of alcohol, struck them with eggs and other flying objects and beat them for long periods of time with fists and paddles, Horton said in his lawsuit. He said he vomited blood the next day, was bleeding internally, sustained organ damage and had to be hospitalized for 24 days.