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August 23, 2000Judge's decision for trial on holdJudge to decide whether two men will stand trial in drinking death of Gaylord manBIG RAPIDS (AP) - A judge will decide within a couple of months whether two men - one of Suttons Bay - will stand trial on charges stemming from the drinking-related death of a Ferris State University freshman from Gaylord.A preliminary hearing in Mecosta County District Court concluded Tuesday with the testimony of a Grand Rapids forensic pathologist who autopsied Stephen Petz of Gaylord after his March 15 death. The hearing was to determine whether there is probable cause to try defendants Joshua Gardner, 22, of Suttons Bay, and Christopher Tabachki, 23, of Fenton. Tabachki is charged with involuntary manslaughter, which carries a possible 15-year prison sentence. Gardner is charged with furnishing alcohol to a minor, causing death, which carries a possible 10-year sentence. Each man has pleaded innocent. Judge Susan H. Grant said after the hearing that she expects it will be early to mid-October before she decides whether the cases will go to trial. Three other men charged in the case entered guilty pleas earlier to the following counts: -Robert Tahir Markjha, 20, of Southgate: Furnishing alcohol to a minor, causing death. On July 31, he was sentenced to 10 months in jail and three years of probation. -Barry Michael Bradley, 19, of Flushing: Furnishing alcohol to a minor, causing death. He has not yet been sentenced. -Erik Bannister, 22, of Metamora: Two misdemeanor counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor. He has not yet been sentenced. All five defendants in the case were Ferris State students at the time of Petz' death. All have either withdrawn from school or been suspended, said Ted Halm, a university spokesman. Authorities said Petz, a Gaylord native, had taken part in a drinking game at a hazing party thrown by an underground fraternity, the Knights of College Leadership, which is also known as the Knights of College Lore. The fraternity was kicked off campus 14 years ago after a fatal auto-pedestrian accident. The game involved using a roulette-like wheel to determine how much players were required to drink. Markjha testified in June during the preliminary hearing for Tabachki and Gardner that Petz and other pledges to the fraternity took part in the drinking game, called Wheel of Torture. He estimated that each had consumed about 10 shots of alcohol. But Dr. Stephen Cohle, the forensic pathologist, said he estimated that Petz had consumed the equivalent of about 27 shots in a span of less than two hours, just prior to his death. He determined that the alcohol in Petz' body shut down his respiration system and caused him to quit breathing. Petz vomited during the game and was carried upstairs to a bedroom, according to court records. The following morning, the fraternity members told police they found Petz "cold, blue and breathing shallowly." Under questioning by Tabachki's lawyer, Dan O'Neil of Mount Pleasant, Cohle said he could not tell from his examination of Petz' body how much alcohol he had consumed before arriving at the party. A hospital test determined Petz' blood-alcohol level to be 0.372 percent at the time of death, while Cohle's test placed it at 0.36 percent and a Michigan State Police crime laboratory set it at 0.32 percent. The variation in the test results did not go unnoticed by O'Neil or Michael Mathews, a Big Rapids attorney representing Gardner. "I'm not saying the state police crime lab is wrong," Cohle testified. "I just can't explain the difference." The legal blood-alcohol limit for drivers under the state's motor-vehicle law is 0.10 percent. |
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