Rikki Willis, 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 Willis 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.
