A former Northern Arizona University fraternity leader was sentenced Wednesday to two months in jail for his involvement in a hazing ritual that ended in the death of a student.
Carter Eslick, 20, pleaded guilty in Coconino County Superior Court to felony hazing in connection with the Jan. 31 death of Colin Daniel Martinez. Eslick was serving as Delta Tau Delta’s pledge master when the incident occurred.
Martinez died from alcohol poisoning at an off-campus Delta Tau Delta house. An autopsy determined that his blood-alcohol concentration was 0.45% shortly after his death.
Carter Eslick cries in court. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP, Pool)
According to NBC News, Martinez was one of four pledges directed to drink two bottles of vodka during the hazing ritual so they would vomit.
Witnesses testified that they tried to watch the sleeping Martinez for symptoms of alcohol poisoning and repositioned him several times.
With Martinez’s parents in the courtroom, Eslick said he accepted “full responsibility for the hand I played in that ritual.”
Eslick’s sentencing comes as other college-campus cases draw national attention, including the unexplained deaths of two University of Mississippi students—one of them a fraternity member—and an alleged cocaine distribution operation involving fraternities at Penn State.
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Booking photos of Ryan Creech, Carter Eslick and Riley Cass appear over an image of a Delta Tau Delta fraternity house near Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. The three were arrested on suspicion of hazing after freshman Colin Daniel Martinez died of alcohol poisoning following a fraternity rush event. (Fox 10 Phoenix)
Robert Strang, one of the University of Mississippi students found dead this past week, belonged to Phi Delta Theta and was discovered at an off-campus residence. Investigators found packages of kratom—a commercially available substance sometimes labeled “gas station heroin”—at the locations connected to both deaths. Authorities had not determined whether the drug contributed to either case.
Phi Delta Theta has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Investigators examined a residence near NAU after a freshman died following a fraternity rush event in January. (Fox 10 Phoenix)
“The loss of two young lives is a profound tragedy,” the fraternity said in a statement. “Phi Delta Theta joins the University of Mississippi and the broader Ole Miss community in mourning Robert and Aidan Hamilton and extending our deepest sympathies to their families, friends, chapter brothers, classmates, and all those who knew and loved them.”
“These losses reinforce the importance of a collective commitment to health, safety, and well-being on college campuses today. We encourage the Phi Delta Theta community to keep the Strang family, the Mississippi Alpha Chapter, and everyone affected by these tragic losses in their thoughts,” the statement continued.
