BATON ROUGE, La. – Two young men have pleaded no contest to misdemeanor hazing in the drinking death of a Louisiana State University fraternity pledge whose blood alcohol level was more than six times the legal limit for driving.
Sean-Paul Gott and Ryan Matthew Isto weren't immediately sentenced Thursday for their roles in the September 2017 death of 18-year-old Maxwell Gruver.
Gruver, of Roswell, Georgia, died after a night of drinking at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house. A coroner said the cause was acute alcohol intoxication, with aspiration: He inhaled vomit and other fluid.
The Advocate reports the no contest pleas carry the same weight as a guilty plea in criminal court, but can't be used against the men in civil proceedings.
Matthew Alexander Naquin is charged with negligent homicide in Gruver's death.