A fourth defendant in the case involving the death of BGSU student Stone Foltz has pled guilty.
Foltz died last March from alcohol poisoning after a hazing incident.
On Tuesday (April 26) Benjamin Boyers, Sylvania, appeared before Wood County Common Pleas Judge Joel Kuhlman and was convicted of reckless homicide, obstructing justice, and eight counts of misdemeanor hazing.
Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Dobson announced that the reckless homicide charge had been amended from involuntary manslaughter and both are felonies of the third degree, carrying a maximum penalty of three years in prison. The obstructing justice was an amendment from a third degree felony tampering with evidence and is a fifth degree felony, with a maximum penalty of one year in prison.
Dobson dismissed a number of other misdemeanors involving obstructing official business and the provision of alcohol to underage individuals.
Boyers is one of eight individuals who had been indicted by the Wood County Grand Jury on various misdemeanor and felony charges similar to his own. He was originally indicted only on misdemeanors when his co-defendants were indicted in April of last year, but the prosecutor’s office dismissed those charges. He was later indicted on the felonies and misdemeanors in August.
Judge Kuhlman ruled that his should be joined with the others for trial.
Four co-defendants remain in the case, which is scheduled to go to trial before Judge Kuhlman starting May 16.
