Jail term ordered in fraternity pledge's death

LOGAN — One of the Utah State University students charged in connection with the alcohol-poisoning death of a fraternity pledge will spend 14 days in jail.

Christopher Allen Ammon, 20, pleaded no contest to unlawful supply of alcohol to a minor, a class B misdemeanor and was sentenced this week in 1st District Court.

Judge Thomas Willmore sentenced Ammon to 180 days in jail but suspended 166 days of the sentence, according to court records. Ammon will also be placed on probation for six months and pay a $500 fine.

Part of Ammon's probation requires him to complete alcohol counseling, not consume or possess alcohol or drugs, violate no other law, and complete 200 hours of volunteer service at colleges or high schools teaching students about underage drinking, according to court records. He was also told not to be a member of any fraternity.

Michael Starks, 18, died after participating in an initiation ceremony for the then-USU chapter of Sigma Nu. The initiation involved Starks and another pledge being "kidnapped" by Chi Omega sorority women. Sometime during the activity, they began drinking, prosecutors say. They returned to the fraternity house already heavily intoxicated, and a few hours later Starks was found unconscious and not breathing. He died at a hospital shortly afterward.

Eight of the 12 students originally charged in the case have had their cases resolved. Three had the charges dismissed, while five have either pleaded guilty or no contest to some aspect of the charges, according to court records.

— Ethan Thomas