Twelve of the 15 Salisbury University students accused of attacking and beating a man in Maryland because of his sexual orientation had their hate crime and first-degree assault charges dismissed, court records show.
All 15 students were arrested last month for allegedly punching, kicking, spitting on and calling a man derogatory names after luring him into an off-campus apartment on Oct. 15 under false pretenses, according to Salisbury police.
The students, ages 18 to 21, originally faced several charges including first-degree assault, reckless endangerment, false imprisonment and associated hate crime charges, police said.
As of Sunday, court records show that 12 of the accused students are only facing a charge of false imprisonment and had their felony first-degree assault charge downgraded to a misdemeanor second-degree assault.
They are: Riley Brister, 20; Bennan Aird, 18; Ryder Baker, 20; Cruz Cespedes, 19; Dylan Earp, 20; Cameron Guy, 18; Jacob Howard, 19; Eric Sinclair, 21; Patrick Gutierrez, 19; Dylan Pietuszka, 20; Sean Antone, 19; and Benjamin Brandenburg, 18.
The remaining charges accusing them of reckless endangerment and committing hate crimes were dropped following preliminary hearings last week.
“We have charged as appropriate” based on reviews of the evidence gathered so far during the course of the investigation, the Wicomico County State’s Attorney’s Office in Maryland said in a statement Sunday. “As this is a pending criminal prosecution, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
Steve Rakow, an attorney for Brister, one of the students, said in an email, “While still serious charges, this never was a hate crime and certainly was never a felony first-degree assault.”
Rakow continued: “As of now, my client maintains his innocence. Should the state make a plea offer in this case, we’ll evaluate that and make a decision on whether to accept the plea or go to trial.”
A trial for Brister and nine of the other students was scheduled for Jan. 29 at the Wicomico County District Court. Trials for Antone and Pietuszka were set for Jan. 23 and 24, respectively, in the same court.
Attorneys for Aird and Earp declined to comment. NBC News has called and emailed the attorneys of the remaining nine students whose hate crime and felony assault charges were dismissed but did not receive immediate responses.
Two other students had their cases moved to the Wicomico County Circuit Court. These are Zachary Leinemann, 18, and Elijah Johnson, 19. While both of them had their reckless endangerment charges dropped and their assault charge downgraded, they continue to face false imprisonment and hate crime charges, court records show.
Both Leinemann and Johnson have their initial court appearances scheduled for Jan. 3.
Logan Clark, 19, is still facing two counts of first-degree assault and another count of second-degree assault, as well as charges of reckless endangerment, false imprisonment and hate crime, according to court records. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Court records did not list attorneys for Leinemann, Johnson and Clark.
“At this time, the students facing charges in the alleged incident remain on interim suspension,” a spokesperson for Salisbury University said in a statement Sunday.
“Salisbury University continues to monitor these cases as the due process of the law takes its course,” the statement continues. “We remain committed to maintaining safe and welcoming spaces for our students, our employees and the greater community.”
Salisbury police said last month they were contacted by the university’s campus police on Oct. 31 about an alleged assault at an off-campus apartment complex for college-age students.
Detectives who met with witnesses saw cellphone footage that allegedly showed “an adult male victim being assaulted by several college-aged men,” police said in a Nov. 7 news release.
Detectives also met with the victim and learned that on Oct. 15 a group of men used a social media account to invite the victim to a residence “under false pretenses,” the release stated. When the victim showed up, “numerous college-aged men surrounded the victim and forced him to sit in a chair isolated in the middle of the living room,” according to police.
The victim was “forcefully seated,” he was allegedly “kicked, punched and spit on while the men called the victim derogatory names,” police said. The victim told detectives that he tried to leave multiple times but the group threw him to the floor.
Police said the assault lasted for several minutes before he was allowed to leave. The victim said he sought medical attention and had bruises as well as a broken rib.
Investigators have said they believe the man was targeted over his sexual orientation.
