By Tracey Kaplan
The San Jose State student accused of being the ringleader in the relentless hazing of his black roommate pleaded not guilty Monday to misdemeanor hate-crime and battery charges.
Logan Beaschler, 18, of Bakersfield, faces up to a year in county jail if he is convicted in last year’s alleged hazing, which has sparked tremendous anger in the community and on the diverse campus. The 6-foot-tall man with dark hair appeared in court wearing a blue, button-down shirt, but his attorney spoke for him.
Three other young men — Joseph Bomgardner, 19, of Clovis, Colin Warren, 18, of Woodacre, and an unidentified juvenile — have not yet entered pleas.
The hazing took place last fall in a suite of a campus dorm, according to reports by police and housing officials obtained by this newspaper. | Read more at The Mercury News
Photo credit (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) – Champagne Ellison, a senior at San Jose State University, speaks at a rally on Thursday afternoon, November 21, 2013, protesting the reported racial hazing.
