NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Fayetteville Prosecutor Casey Jones won’t pursue criminal charges against any former members of a University of Arkansas fraternity that a former pledge has sued for an alleged hazing last November.
Jones said too little time remains before the one-year statute of limitations expires on the misdemeanor hazing charge.
“There is no way I can launch that type of investigation with my resources in such a short period of time,” Jones said.
Jones said he wasn’t asked to press charges until Wednesday, when he received a fax from an attorney forNicholas Brown, who filed a civil lawsuit Oct. 18 detailing allegations of hazing the suit says took place Nov. 12.
Brown was taken Nov. 13 to Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville after attending a party at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house. He had a blood alcohol content greater than 0.68 percent and slipped into a coma, according to a police incident report.
Brown’s lawsuit says that he was forced to drink a fifth of whiskey and five 16-ounce beers during a party to introduce pledges to their “big brothers.”
Jones said it would be difficult to track down witnesses and navigate federalprivacy protections that apply to students with about two weeks available. Jones’ chances of pursuing charges would have been better last November, but that would have been dependent on Brown’s cooperation, he said.
“I could have been asked to charge [someone,] but it would have been problematic without a witness,” he said.
University of Arkansas Police and Brown’s attorneys differ on whether Brown was fully cooperative with investigators after the incident.
The suit claims that the UA police “intentionally refused to enforce the laws of the State of Arkansas.”
It says that “despite [Brown] fully cooperating with the University of Arkansas police and begging officials and officers to investigate and prosecute this matter, the University did not charge a single person.”
The Pulaski County Circuit Court lawsuit names asdefendants the international Phi Delta Theta fraternity, the fraternity’s Fayetteville chapter, three University of Arkansas administrators, and several former fraternity members.
The university was not named in the suit. UA attorney Scott Varady said previously that officials named in the lawsuit took proper action when addressing the fraternity’s violations.
The international Phi Delta Theta organization suspended the local chapter on Dec. 3 because chapter members violated the fraternity’s risk management policy, international fraternity Executive Vice President Bob Biggs said previously.
Students new to the fraternity began reorganizing in a process the fraternity calls “recolonization” in January, Biggs said previously. None of the former members was allowed to rejoin the fraternity, he said.
An incident report by UA police Lt. Matt Mills begins by listing dates for numerous unreturned phone messages left with Brown and his father, Douglass Brown, beginning Dec. 12.
Mills met with Brown and attorney Ryan Allen of North Little Rock on Jan. 22, and Brown discussed the incident, according to the report.
In addition to pushing pledges to drink large amounts of alcohol, the former fraternity members forced the men into painful positions and beat them, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit says about 100 fraternity members took about 47 pledges to a windowless room without surveillance cameras for the hazing.
Mills said in the incident report that he spoke after that meeting to Jones, who told him he would not “issue any subpoenas” until he spoke to Brown.
Mills sent e-mails Feb. 16 to both Brown and Allen conferring Jones’ desire to speak with Brown. A copy of the email was in the case file, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
In Mills’ last entry in the incident report, dated March 2, Mills wrote that he never received a reply from Brown or Allen.
Allen said that his clientdid everything he could to help police prepare a case. He said he didn’t receive Mills’ e-mail telling him to contact Jones and that the attorneys believed all they needed to do to pursue charges was to speak to Mills.
“[Mills] said they’d investigate it and let us know,” Allen said. “He didn’t say anything about needing to talk to anybody or not being able to bring misdemeanor charges.”
It is possible that Mills’ email saying Brown needed to meet with Jones did not reach Allen, said Steve Voorhies, university spokesman.
Allen said that UA police told him that investigators would conduct interviews and watch surveillance video from the fraternity house.
Voorhies said that university police declined to interview other fraternity members because Brown only provided first names and that was three months after the incident.
Jones said that under state law, unless a police officer witnesses a crime, someone has to ask for a complaint to be filed.
Mills’ e-mail records show that he asked Allen in a Jan. 28 e-mail whether his client wanted to “pursue criminal charges, University action, both or neither.” Mills also asked the status of Brown’s written statement, which he reported first asking for before Christmas break.
Allen replied in an e-mail to Mills on Feb. 1 that Brown wanted to pursue “both.” He also told Mills he’d check on the statement.
Brown’s written statement was not included in the case file, though Allen said it had been sent via e-mail. Allen said that while he had seen a copy of the statement, he did not have one. He suggested a copy might be obtained from his co-counsel, Russell Wood. Wood could not be reached Monday.
Jones said that he doesn’tknow what happened between Brown and UA police. He expected to receive the case after reading about it in the newspaper. It takes more than reading an article to decide to pursue charges, he said.
“I just don’t on my own ... launch an investigation,” Jones said.
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Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 10/26/2010