Dead Frat Pledge's Body Defaced

Freshman Died Of Acute Alcohol Poisoning, Adorned With Anti-Gay Epithets, Drawings

(CBS/AP)  The body of an 18-year-old fraternity pledge who died of alcohol poisoning was defaced with numerous anti-gay epithets and obscene drawings, according to a medical examiner's report.

Phanta "Jack" Phoummarath, a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, died after ingesting large amounts of alcohol at a pledge party at Lambda Phi Epsilon house in December 2005, authorities said. Phoumarrath's body was found the day after.

A grand jury indicted three members of the fraternity last month on hazing charges following a yearlong investigation into Phoummarath's death.

The Travis County medical examiner's office reported that partygoers used green and black markers to write "FAG," "I'm gay" and "I AM FAT" on Phoummarath's head, face, torso, legs and feet. Someone also added drawings depicting naked men and women and blackened his toenails.

"It was disgusting and despicable behavior," Houston attorney Randy Sorrels, who is representing Phoummarath's family, said Tuesday. "This would be the juvenile behavior you might see in junior high or high school, but not college."

Sorrels said Phoummarath was not gay. He said the drawings and epithets were a juvenile "prank," and that it had not yet been determined how long before Phoumarrath's death the actions took place.

His family alleges in a lawsuit against the fraternity that pledges were pressured to drink at the party and that someone wrote vulgar graffiti on Phoummarath's body after he passed out. The medical examiner ruled that Phoummarath died of acute alcohol poisoning.

University officials canceled Lambda Phi Epsilon's status as a registered student organization until 2011 after an investigation found new members were expected to drink large amounts of liquor.

UT was voted the best party school in the U.S. in a Princeton Review survey of 115,000 students at campuses around the country released this summer.

[wintess71]

yahoo!!! finally some action! those little brats got it comin good. just glad it was able 2 go down in TEXAS!

[flolake]

"a very similar thing happened here in NC, there was a party, everyone drunk, first guy passes out, they then strip him naked, wrapped him in clear Glad plastic food wrap and tied him to a street sign next to a busy highway as a joke. He was found the next day dead by police. he had poisioned himself. No arrests were made from the party of nearly a dozen people "
Posted by ncolsens at 07:01 PM : Jan 10, 2007

Do you have a link/source for this incident in NC?

[random_radar]

Plowhandle said,

"First bad choice - going to TEXAS for anything. The people there are as insufferable as they come in the South, and that's saying a lot. Not as ignorant as Mississippians, but ignorant in their own churlish way."

Whereever you are from, I hope your neighbors don't find out about you--they would probably run you out of town on a rail to avoid bad publicity. ROFL.

catt42701, a very similar thing happened here in NC, there was a party, everyone drunk, first guy passes out, they then strip him naked, wrapped him in clear Glad plastic food wrap and tied him to a street sign next to a busy highway as a joke. He was found the next day dead by police. he had poisioned himself. No arrests were made from the party of nearly a dozen people

[catt42701]

My honest opinion is that everyone there should have been arrested. They either participated or knew it was happening and didn't stop it. This was evil incarnate.

[st3v3p]

I definitely agree with kemetorigin. We used different language in that I spoke in terms of social norms and he more elegantly described it as cognitive dissonance --man it has been a long time for me since college psych, but I am sure he felt that if you are in for a dime, you are in for a dollar and unfortunately poisioned himself in the process. Again my two cents are that the institutions including the University, the national fraternity and the local chapter should have never let things get this far.

[bratbutt]

thank you kemetorigin..

[kemetorigin]

It is called cognitive dissonance. The more involvment/effort/time you put into an idea, organization, or endeavor the more continue to put into it b/c you do not want to feel like your efforts have been in vain. At least this is psychology's reasoning for hazing. I think it is utterly stupid to engage in an activity that threatens your life simply to belong to a group or wear their letters and colors.

[bratbutt]

Ok.. Now I understand.. The frat knowingly drank himself to death.. Suicide must be the reason for this.. His good buddies just looked the other way until someone found a marker.. is that right?

[st3v3p]

humancitizen I am guessing you don't like fraternities and perhaps are prejudiced against white people. Well let me tell you some good news: you never have to join a fraternity, if one ever would accept you and you never even have to associate with them. In the meantime I will continue on with my African American better half and just a suggestion: please don't take yourself too seriously.

[dogsoul]

...hey, if someone's on ADHD medication - then they ought to have been informed about the risks relating to alcohol consumption - and probably were....

[st3v3p]

Sorry about that my Firefox browser didn't respond correctly. :-/

[dogsoul]

"True the pledge is responsible for his or her own safety but the desire to belong can override logic."

So who's supposed to be responsible for & keep watch over someone's logic? Perhaps the person who owns the cranium in which the logical functioning of the brain in question is housed?

Seriously... I just love when people will write things like:

Yes, everyone's responsible for their own behavior but...

Sure, it was the kid who drank but...

Of course, we're all in charge of our own bodies but...

and then they go on to say how it's every body else's fault, from the parents - to the school - to the frat boys...

BUT NOTHIN' I say...

[st3v3p]

There is plenty of blame to go around here including the University administration. I attended a different University in Texas than UT and we some problem houses that spanked well or disbanded because of the vigilance of the university office of the president who happened sensitive to what was going on having been greek himself. I love Austin and have many UT friends there but there is a kind of 6th Street/Bourbon Street mindset. The school should have monitored more closely who was hazing and what kinds and stopped it way before this happened. Universities can pull a fraterniy's charter in heartbeat if they feel not just criminal but ANY deletarious behavior is going on. I still breaks my heart but in the 20 something years since I was active in a fraternity I regret that I have seen this over and over. The young man should not have drank to poisioning, but that was what is obvious to me a social norm there and I can understand that easily. Again if those boys coerced him into doing this, let the law sort it out. I still say there is plenty of blame to go around including the University of Texas at Austin I am sad to say.

[st3v3p]

There is plenty of blame to go around here including the University administration. I attended a different University in Texas than UT and we some problem houses that spanked well or disbanded because of the vigilance of the university office of the president who happened sensitive to what was going on having been greek himself. I love Austin and have many UT friends there but there is a kind of 6th Street/Bourbon Street mindset. The school should have monitored more closely who was hazing and what kinds and stopped it way before this happened. Universities can pull a fraterniy's charter in heartbeat if they feel not just criminal but ANY deletarious behavior is going on. I still breaks my heart but in the 20 something years since I was active in a fraternity I regret that I have seen this over and over. The young man should not have drank to poisioning, but that was what is obvious to me a social norm there and I can understand that easily. Again if those boys coerced him into doing this, let the law sort it out. I still say there is plenty of blame to go around including the University of Texas at Austin I am sad to say.

[st3v3p]

There is plenty of blame to go around here including the University administration. I attended a different University in Texas than UT and we some problem houses that spanked well or disbanded because of the vigilance of the university office of the president who happened sensitive to what was going on having been greek himself. I love Austin and have many UT friends there but there is a kind of 6th Street/Bourbon Street mindset. The school should have monitored more closely who was hazing and what kinds and stopped it way before this happened. Universities can pull a fraterniy's charter in heartbeat if they feel not just criminal but ANY deletarious behavior is going on. I still breaks my heart but in the 20 something years since I was active in a fraternity I regret that I have seen this over and over. The young man should not have drank to poisioning, but that was what is obvious to me a social norm there and I can understand that easily. Again if those boys coerced him into doing this, let the law sort it out. I still say there is plenty of blame to go around including the University of Texas at Austin I am sad to say.

[st3v3p]

There is plenty of blame to go around here including the University administration. I attended a different University in Texas than UT and we some problem houses that spanked well or disbanded because of the vigilance of the university office of the president who happened sensitive to what was going on having been greek himself. I love Austin and have many UT friends there but there is a kind of 6th Street/Bourbon Street mindset. The school should have monitored more closely who was hazing and what kinds and stopped it way before this happened. Universities can pull a fraterniy's charter in heartbeat if they feel not just criminal but ANY deletarious behavior is going on. I still breaks my heart but in the 20 something years since I was active in a fraternity I regret that I have seen this over and over. The young man should not have drank to poisioning, but that was what is obvious to me a social norm there and I can understand that easily. Again if those boys coerced him into doing this, let the law sort it out. I still say there is plenty of blame to go around including the University of Texas at Austin I am sad to say.

[talkingham]

It's also fairly well known that if someone is on an ADHD medication such as ritalin they may be able to consume far more liquor without serious symptoms until it's too late.

[mt5937]

The story headline implies the body was marked after the young man's death. Even though the story appears to correct that first impression, the impression lingers.

I endured severe hazing in high school, college, and the merchant marine. It was unpleasant, humiliating and sometimes painful, but rites of passage I survived. I survived because "belonging" was never so important to me that I surrendered my responsibility to myself.

Unless the frat brothers force fed this kid alcohol, it is nothing more than one more case of ignorance and irresponsibility.

Too bad, so sad...throw a little chlorine into the gene pool.

[bratbutt]

Regardless of what you%u2019re political beliefs are. You all must agree that senseless Frat deaths can be minimized. True the pledge is responsible for his or her own safety but the desire to belong can override logic. Especially after the fist 7 or eight drinks which unknowingly could have been enhanced under the guise of a joke. Deaths like this have taken place for years in which pledges were beaten to death. You can%u2019t point your finger at one single person and say who was responsible for this senseless death. Once you break it down, many factors are to blame.