Jury trial set for Fiji member accused in Santulli hazing case; trial to begin in January

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Trial dates have been set for one of the University of Missouri fraternity members accused in the Danny Santulli hazing case.

Benjamin Karl, 21, of Columbia, was charged with felony hazing. A jury will be pooled from Warren County. A pretrial conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, Dec. 4. A three-day jury trial is set to begin 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9.

Santulli was left disabled following an alleged hazing incident at Phi Gamma Delta in 2021. Santulli was left unable to walk, talk or see after suffering a traumatic brain injury that night.

Santulli's family alleged in a lawsuit against several fraternity members that he was forced to drink large amounts of hard liquor and not given immediate medical attention when he was unresponsive.

Two other Fiji members have trial dates scheduled:

• Samuel Morrison, 23, of Cameron – another fraternity member charged with hazing – has a jury trial set for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26. A pretrial conference is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, Sept. 11.
• Benjamin Parres, 21, of Chesterfield has a pretrial conference set for 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 8. A jury trial is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23. He is also charged with felony hazing.

A number of accused fraternity members have taken plea deals:

• Harrison Reichman, 21, 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 A. Shultz, of Chesterfield, Missouri, 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 Bradley Wetzler, 21, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty in April to supplying liquor to a minor and buying liquor as a minor, both misdemeanors. He was sentenced earlier this month to 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. 

Another member, Blake Morsovillo, has a hearing set for 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 28. He was also charged with felony hazing.