Lawmakers mull over ‘Danny’s Law’ to address hazing in Missouri

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo (KMIZ)

The Missouri House of Representatives Crime and Saftey Committee held a hearing on Thursday to discuss House Bill 1443, a new law that would modify the offense of hazing. 

Hazing is a Class A misdemeanor in Missouri, which can be elevated to a Class D felony, if the hazing creates a “substantial risk to the life of the student or prospective member.” Under HB 1143, a person would be immune from prosecution if they provide immediate medical assistance, are the first to call 911, and remain at the scene with the victim. 

The bill was introduced by Rep. Travis Smith (R-Ozark County) who was he was inspired to sponsor the bill after reading about Danny Santulli.

Santulli was left unable to walk, talk, or see after suffering a traumatic brain injury due to a hazing event at the University of Missouri's Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. If passed, the bill will be called  “Danny’s Law. ” 

“It was hours before these kids decided to do anything because they knew in the state of Missouri, hazing is a felony,” Smith said. “I know the Santulli family would give anything to get their young man back (how he ) was before. And if someone would had just picked up the phone and called 9-1-1. this young man would not be in the situation he is today.” 

Smith attended the University of Missouri and was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He says the Greek system is much different now than it was when he was in school and he hopes the law will save lives by preventing people from worrying about getting in trouble. 

“You have a lot of binge drinking going on right now. They drink as hard of liquor as they can and as fast as they can in as fast as they can,” Smith said. 

According to the Santulli’s family attorney David Bianchi, since the year 2000 nearly 70 fraternity pledges have died in the United States as a result of hazing. In most of those cases, nobody called 911. 

“The reason many of these pledges die is that when they drink too much and they just fall down on the couches and are left there -- I hate to be too graphic -- but they aspirate on their own vomit and stop breathing. And that’s what has led to a number of the deaths,” Bianchi told ABC 17 News. 

“I said in my testimony it’s so prevalent with people passing out they have what they call the backpack method where they put a backpack, literally a backpack with books on your back, so if you passed out and put you face down on a couch so you don’t die on your own vomit,” Smith said. 

Danny’s Law is modeled after similar legislation in more than 20 states. 

“In Missouri, we call ourselves the 'Show-Me State,' but unfortunately Missouri is like the 47th, 48th, 49th state to do something. And we are asking other states to show us how to do that,” Smith said. 

Bianchi wrote one of those laws in Florida, called “Andrew’s Law,” named after Andrew Coffey, who was a fraternity pledge at Florida State and died as a result of hazing. Bianchi said Andrew’s Law essentially copied the law that was in a number of other states. 

“Just like in Danny Sanutlli’s case, nobody bothered to pick up the phone to call 911. They just put him on a couch at 3 o'clock in the morning to let him sleep it off; and when they came back at 7 o'clock in the morning, he was dead,” Bianchi said. 

During Thursday’s hearing, Smith said one of the questions that was raised was if the state was going to give amnesty to those participating in hazing. 

“We just want to make sure that if someone is a good samaritan and calls 911, and gives CPR that they will not be charged with a felony for trying to save someone's life. That doesn't mean that later on there can’t be a civil suit against them,” Smith said. 

He added that lawmakers are still working on adding language that would also protect others who are helping the victim even if they didn’t call 911. 

Bianchi said similar concerns were raised when Andrew’s Law was proposed in Flordia. 

After Bianchi wrote Andrew’s Law, he traveled up to Tallahassee to testify before a committee. He said one of the legislators in the hearing liked the idea of the law, but was worried they were giving immunity to the hazers. 

“He said to me, ‘Let me get this straight: You’re proposing to give immunity to the guy that did the hazing?’ and I said ‘Yes, that’s exactly what we’re proposing to do' because I said ‘ask any parent who lost their son to hazing and every single one of them will tell you that that they’d rather have their son back than prosecute the person who did it.’ And he instantly nodded his head.

Soon after the law passed unanimously and was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. However, Bianchi says there still has to be a cutoff. 

“You can debate all day long where do you draw the line. What if the first person calls 911 while the second guy is administering CPR and while the third guy is running out to the street to flag down a police officer? There are good arguments why those guys ought to get immunity also because they are doing something meaningful to try and save somebody's life,” Bianchi said. 

“But if there are ten guys in the room, while one guy is calling 911 and the other nine guys are just standing around and they think they will be swept up in the ability to get immunity. You don’t want that because you don’t get immunity by association”

Bianchi says that laws like this historically move very quickly through the state legislature because they face limited opposition and is hopeful that Danny's Law will get passed sometime this year.

A number of accused fraternity members have taken plea deals in Santulli's case:

• Harrison Reichman, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty to giving alcohol to a minor. He was initially charged with hazing – life endangerment. He was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation, along with 100 hours of community services and 15 days of shock jail time.
• Thomas Shultz, of Chesterfield, pleaded guilty to supplying alcohol to a minor. He was sentenced to a year of probation and 30 days of shock jail time.
• Samuel Gandhi, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty to supplying alcohol to a minor, a misdemeanor He was originally charged with felony hazing. He was sentenced to 15 days of shock time in the county jail, two years of probation and 100 hours of community service. He will also have to complete a court-ordered drug and alcohol treatment program.
• Alec Wetzler, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty to supplying liquor to a minor and buying liquor as a minor, both misdemeanors. He was sentenced to two years of probation, with a suspended sentence of 180 days in jail. He was also ordered to two days of shock jail time. 
• Samuel Morrison, of Cameron, pleaded guilty to supplying alcohol to a minor. He was initially charged with felony hazing. Morrison was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation with a one-year suspended sentence. He was also ordered to two days of shock jail time and will have to complete 100 hours of community service.
• Blake Morsovillo, of Springfield, pleaded guilty to supplying alcohol to a minor, a misdemeanor. He was previously charged with felony hazing. He was sentenced to serve two years of unsupervised probation and two days of shock jail time. He will also have to complete an alcohol and drug program and do 100 hours of community service.

A few other members have court dates coming up.

Benjamin Parres, of Chesterfield, is charged with felony hazing and has a hearing set for 9 a.m. Monday, April 1. Ryan Delanty, of Ballwin, was charged with felony hazing, second-degree assault and supplying liquor to a minor, a misdemeanor. A jury trial is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 21.

Samuel Lane and Benjamin Karl, both of Columbia, are charged with felony hazing. A hearing in Lane’s case is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 28. A hearing in Karl's case is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, April 15.