RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Four men have been convicted in the deaths of two Virginia State University students who drowned during a club initiation ritual.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/19cyecC ) that 36-year-old James A. Mackey Sr. pleaded no contest to two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of hazing Thursday in Chesterfield County Circuit Court.
Thirty-year-old Charles E. Zollicoffer III pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter and one count of hazing.
Twenty-seven-year-old Cory D. Baytop pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter and one count of hazing.
Twenty-year-old Eriq Q. Benson pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter and one count of hazing.
They received sentences ranging from 5 1/2 months to more than one year.
Marvell Edmondson and Jauwan Holmes drowned while trying to swim across the Appomattox River in 2013.
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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.timesdispatch.com