Attorney General appeals judge's Beta Theta Pi ruling

The Pennsylvania Attorney General filed a notice of appeal on Thursday after a Centre County district judge dismissed a majority of the charges against 11 former Beta Theta Pi brothers.

The former brothers are charged in connection with 19-year-old pledge Timothy Piazza's February 2017 death.

"We laid out the required elements of the charges which were dismissed at a preliminary hearing last month," said Joe Grace, spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General Josh Shapiro. "In the interest of justice for the Piazza family, our office today filed a notice of appeal with respect to charges against eight of the defendants in this case."

The eight defendants are Brendan Young, Daniel Casey, Joseph Sala, Michael Bonatucci, Nicholas Kubera, Jonah Neuman, Gary Dibileo and Luke Visser. The appeal does not include Michael Schiavone, Parker Yochim and Lars Kenyon.

Grace said Shapiro intends to provide more detail next week about the office's "comprehensive review of the Piazza case."

District Judge Allen Sinclair dismissed all involuntary manslaughter charges for a second time on March 28. He dismissed 271 charges in total and bound 30 of the refiled charges over for trial.

Twelve former Beta Theta Pi brothers are scheduled for a new preliminary hearing on Wednesday.

"Our office is committed to holding responsible individuals accountable for their actions, consistent with the law and evidence in this case," Grace said.

Tom Kline, attorney for the Piazza family, said the family is pleased with the attorney general's decision to appeal Sinclair's ruling.

"The family wholeheartedly supports the appeal from the dismissal of involuntary manslaughter charges," Kline said.

This story was originally published April 26, 2018 at 1:10 PM with the headline "Attorney General appeals judge's Beta Theta Pi ruling."