Rikki Wills, 24 (pictured at top), and Caleb Jackson, 23 (pictured at bottom), are
behind bars in the Leon County Jail. They were both charged with "Felony Hazing
Resulting in Death."
Willis, a drum major, is one of three students who The
FAMUan reported had been expelled from the university on Nov. 29. FAMU
temporarily lifted the dismissals at the request of investigators.
State Attorney Lawson Lamar of the Ninth Judicial Circuit
announced that 13 individuals will be booked on hazing charges in the Champion
case. Eleven, including Wills and Jackson, will face felony counts. The
remaining two will face misdemeanor charges.
"If the defendant does not have a prior record, the maximum
punishment is right at six years," Lamar said of the felony charges.
"[Champion’s] death is not linked to one sole strike, but is
attributed to multiple blows," Lamar said.
Lamar said that he does not have enough evidence to carry
the burden-of-proof for manslaughter or murder prosecutions.
"The testimony obtained to date does not support a charge of murder, in
that it does not contain the elements of murder," he told reporters. "We can
prove participation in hazing and a death. We do not have a blow or a
shot or a knife thrust that killed Mr. Champion. It is an aggregation of
things which exactly fit the Florida statute as written by the
Legislature."
Twenty other individuals will also face misdemeanor charges
for hazing victims other than Champion.
