Ex-fraternity member pleads guilty to hazing an Arizona university pledge to death

Carter Eslick, a former leader of a Northern Arizona University fraternity, pleaded guilty on Monday to hazing and causing the death of 18-year-old pledge Colin Daniel Martinez. The plea came under an agreement with prosecutors and will result in no more than four years of probation. Eslick, who was serving as the fraternity’s pledge master, was found guilty of a felony hazing charge involving Martinez's death.

The agreement allows a judge to determine the length of probation, which could also include up to a year in jail at a sentencing hearing on September 30. Martinez was found unresponsive on January 31 after an off-campus rush event, and an autopsy revealed his blood-alcohol level was 0.425%, considered life-threatening. Coconino County Attorney Ammon Barker stated that the plea does not lessen the "profound harm caused or the sorrow of Colin’s death."

Eslick, who is no longer a student at NAU, is no longer associated with the fraternity. Martinez was one of four men pledging to the now-defunct Delta Tau Delta fraternity who shared two bottles of vodka to ensure they vomited. Witnesses reported monitoring Martinez's condition throughout the night, but he was eventually found unresponsive. The university suspended the fraternity, and the national organization closed the NAU chapter.