3 frat brothers get jail in Piazza hazing death at Penn State

Three former fraternity brothers were sentenced to jail Tuesday for their roles in the 2017 hazing death of 19-year-old Tim Piazza at Pennsylvania State University.

Joshua Kurczewski was sentenced to three to nine months incarceration by Common Pleas Court Judge Brian K. Marshall in Centre County. Luke Visser got two to six month at the Centre County Correctional Facility. Michael Bonatucci got one to six months. All three are scheduled to begin their sentences May 17.

Joseph Sala, who also was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, was sentenced to three months’ house arrest.

Piazza was a sophomore engineering student from New Jersey when he died Feb. 4, 2017, from injuries he sustained after a night of heavy drinking and hazing at a Beta Theta Pi party.

Kurczewski, 20, from Erie, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit hazing, one count of hazing and one count of furnishing liquor to a minor.

Visser, 21 from Encinitas, Calif., pleaded guilty to six counts of hazing and one count of conspiracy to commit hazing.

Sala, 20, also from Erie, pleaded guilty to three counts of hazing and one count of conspiracy to commit hazing.

The defendants were prosecuted by Brian M. Zarallo of the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.

“Today was a significant step forward in the long road to justice for the parents of Tim Piazza with the sentencing of three individuals to prison for admitted conspiracy to haze their son," said Thomas R. Kline, attorney for Jim and Evelyn Piazza, in a statement.

Kline added, “Jim and Evelyn, in the courtroom for the sentencing, remain committed to the cause of eradicating hazing and the beneficial deterrent effect of the enforcement of anti-hazing laws throughout the country.”