Pace High School graduate one of nine charged in FSU fraternity death, pleads not guilty

A Pace High School graduate is one of nine students charged in the excessive alcohol death of a Florida State University fraternity pledge.

Brett Birmingham, 20, of Milton held a leadership role in the fraternity Pi Kappa Phi and allegedly helped in organizing an infamous annual event at which Andrew Coffey died of excessive alcohol consumption on Nov. 2.

The party was an annual “Big Brother Night,” according to court records, which was an event where new pledges would be introduced to their sponsor and reportedly given bottles of liquor to drink.

Coffey, one of the fraternity hopefuls, drank an entire bottle of Wild Turkey 101 bourbon and passed out on a futon on the home's front porch. Witnesses told investigators that Coffey was moved inside and left alone. He was found unresponsive and pronounced dead hours later.

State Medical Examiner Lisa Flannagan would later determine Coffey had a blood alcohol level of .447 during his autopsy, but she reportedly said it was likely higher at the time of his death — an estimated reading of 0.558.

The case has been before two grand juries since Coffey’s death, leading to charges of hazing causing injury or death being filed against Birmingham and eight others — Luke E. Kluttz, Clayton M. Muehlstein, Conner R. Ravelo, Christopher M. Hamlin, Anthony Petagine, Anthony Oppenheimer, John B. Ray, and Kyle J. Bauer — on Wednesday.

More: University of West Florida suspends fraternity, sorority for hazing incidents

Birmingham gave police a Milton address when he was booked in to the Leon County Jail on Jan. 17, and the Santa Rosa County School District confirmed Friday that Birmingham was a 2016 Pace High graduate. MaxPreps lists Birmingham as a member of both the football and basketball teams during his time with the school.

Leon County jail records show Birmingham spent less than 10 minutes in jail before being released on a $2,500 bond. The Tallahassee Democrat reports that Birmingham pleaded not guilty in a court appearance Thursday.

Birmingham and the other defendants helped plan the party, which investigators say created a culture in which fraternity pledges were expected to drink entire bottles of liquor.

Charging documents claim Birmingham is a marshal for the fraternity and was one of the committee members "in charge" of the party. One of the other men charged told investigators Birmingham played an integral role in the direction of the pledge class, and his position was such that Birmingham likely would've risen in the fraternity's ranks the next year.

Birmingham allegedly collected money for the payment of two strippers to perform at the party, and directed the pledge class to be in attendance at the party.

Birmingham's lawyer, reported as Tallahassee attorney Fred Conrad, said his client is "scared to death."

"He's had the death of a friend along with the unfathomable fear of a 20-year-old, you can imagine (what he's going through)," Conrad said.

Conrad went on to say he believes the State Attorney's Office misconstrued the purpose of the hazing law and therefore it isn't correct to charge Birmingham in Coffey's death.

"I can't comment on the evidence at this point, but I can tell you the evidence will show he did whatever any prudent, responsible person would do in that situation," Conrad said.

The Democrat reports that the organizing committee arranged Lyft and Uber drivers to pick up pledges at the organization’s fraternity house to take them to another location in Tallahassee for the party, enabling them to skirt university and national chapter alcohol policies.

More: UWF Greek life brothers and sisters react to potential fraternity and sorority ban

The Democrat reported all men charged held leadership positions within the fraternity, except Ravelo, who was Coffey's "big brother."

The national office of Pi Kappa Phi suspended the FSU branch immediately following Coffey's death, and as of this week the chapter remained under suspension.

FSU President John Thrasher also suspended all sororities and fraternities on campus indefinitely, and a campus-wide alcohol ban was put in place.

The Florida Board of Governors spoke about implementing a state-wide suspension on Greek Life activities at its Nov. 9 meeting, but tabled the discussion until its next meeting which will be next week.

A representative with the Second Judicial Circuit's State Attorney's Office said Birmingham does not yet have another court date scheduled.

Emma Kennedy can be reached at ekennedy@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.