Man charged with assault in Santulli hazing case requests venue change

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was charged in the suspected hazing of Danny Santulli requested a change of venue on Thursday.

Ryan Delanty, 22, was charged with felony hazing, second-degree assault and supplying liquor to a minor, a misdemeanor. A jury trial was scheduled at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 21. The motion filed on Thursday says the defense is aiming to pool a jury from another county, claiming “Inhabitants of Boone County are prejudiced against the Defendant due to the nature and extent of media coverage addressing key issues in the case from October 2021 to the present day.”

Delanty was the "pledge dad" of Santulli when he became unresponsive after drinking at an October 2021 Phi Gamma Delta fraternity party. Santulli was a freshman at the University of Missouri at the time. According to court documents, Delanty "recklessly caused serious physical injury" to Santulli by giving him alcohol and encouraging him to drink it.

Santulli was left unable to walk, talk or see after suffering a traumatic brain injury that night.

A number of accused fraternity members have taken plea deals:

• 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.

Benjamin Parres, of Chesterfield, has a hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday.

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