Man charged with hazing Danny Sanutulli accepts plea agreement, will serve jail time

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was charged with assault in the suspected hazing of former University of Missouri student and fraternity pledge Danny Santulli has accepted a plea deal that will require him to spend time in jail.

Ryan Delanty of Ballwin, Missouri, was charged with felony hazing, second-degree assault and supplying alcohol to a minor, a misdemeanor. On Friday he plead guilty to one count of misdemeanor hazing and one count of serving alcohol to a minor.

He is expected to serve two six-month sentences consecutively. The first six months will be spent in the Boone County Jail with the next six months on home detention. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for May 24. Victim impact statements from the Santulli family are expected to be read before the sentencing.

According to online court records, Delanty's trial was set to begin at 9 a.m. on May 21. The trial was originally scheduled to start in April. Delanty previously asked for a change of venue.

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

“As the pledge dad he is the one who provided the alcohol to Danny. He’s the one who passed on the family bottle to Danny. He’s the one who told Danny that pursuant to the tradition of his branch of the family he had to consume all the alcohol in the bottle. So Ryan Deltanty was one of the main actors in this terrible outcome for Danny," the Santulli family attorney David Bianchi told ABC 17.

Bianchi, who has helped write anti-hazing legislation across the country called the injuries that Santulli suffered as " probably the worst ever in the United States". Santulli was left unable to walk, talk or see after suffering a traumatic brain injury that night.

“It’s been my experience with hazing cases for many decades all around the United States that those fraternity members who fight these charges for a long time and only at the last minute plead guilty usually end up with more jail time," Bianchi said.

A number of accused fraternity members have taken plea deals in the case:

• Harrison Reichman, of Kansas City, Missouri, 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, 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 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, Missouri, 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, Missouri, 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, was charged with felony hazing and has a hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. May 28 at the Boone County Courthouse.

Samuel Lane and Benjamin Karl, both of Columbia, are also charged with felony hazing. A hearing for Lane’s case is set for 9 a.m. June 17, while Karl’s next hearing is scheduled at 10 a.m. the same day.