The family of Robert Champion, the FAMU band member who was killed in a hazing incident, continued to put pressure on the school to take action, calling for the marching band to be discontinued and charging through their attorney that the school’s alumni engaged in a cover-up by coaching students before their testimony. The family “absolutely” will file a lawsuit against the school, said family attorney Christopher Chestnut.
Chestnut said alumni communicated with the band members in a “calculated conspiracy to cover up Robert Champion’s murder.”
“We have heard that alumni were communicating with students on that bus, telling them how to respond, what to say, what not to say in order to ensure that no one would be arrested and charged for murder,” Chestnut said at an Atlanta news conference. “That is simply inexcusable.”
The attorney said he has proof of the cover-up through statements from the students, some of whom he believes are among the 13 people who have been charged in the hazing.
There were 11 students charged with hazing that leads to death, which carries a maximum sentence of six years, and two students charged with misdemeanor hazing, which brings up to a year in prison. Three of the 13 have been arrested thus far, according to published reports.
Robert Champion’s father, Robert Champion Sr., said the band should be discontinued “until they clean house.”
“Until they get it completely clean, because there’s a whole other 100 students still on that band and the same thing could happen to them,” he said.
