CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Four men were convicted on charges connected to the April 2013 hazing deaths of two Virginia State University students. James Mackey, Charles Zollicoffer, Eriq Benson and Cory Baytop entered pleas in Chesterfield Court Thursday.
Mackey entered an Alford plea and was convicted of two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of hazing. He was handed a 14-month active sentence with a 19 year and 10 month suspended sentence. Zollicoffer was sentenced to 12 months active time with a 10-year suspended sentence after he plead guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of hazing. Benson and Baytop were sentenced to five months in jail.
All four men stood up in court and apologized for what happened.
The men were part of the non-university sanctioned group "Men of Honor." They were arrested after Virginia State University students Jauwan Holmes and Marvell Edmondson died during the group's initiation ritual. The students, both of whom came from Hampton Roads, drowned while they attempted to swim the Appomattox River.
Jauwan Holmes and Marvell Edmondson drowned while they attempted to swim the Appomattox River.
Edmondson's body was pulled from the Appomattox River two days after he disappeared. Holmes' body was pulled from the river two days later.
Following the students' death, Virginia State announced it would host an anti-hazing conference and create a website in an effort to combat the problem. The parents of hazing victim Jauwan Holmes said the university's effort came too late to help their son.
"But if it will stop a hazing or another child from being hurt or losing their life it’s a good thing," Holmes’ mother Dionne Williams said.
In court on Thursday, Williams said losing her son has been tough, but she said she had been praying for the defendants and that she forgave them for their actions.
