Defense Cross-Examination Continues on Day 3 of Beta Theta Pi Hearing

The second preliminary hearing for 11 former fraternity brothers charged in connection with the death of Timothy Piazza continued on Tuesday morning with defense cross-examination of a State College Police detective.

Steve Trialonas, representing pledgemaster Daniel Casey, opened by continuing his questioning of Det. David Scicchitano about Piazza’s actions in the weeks leading up to the bid acceptance night at Beta Theta Pi on Feb. 2, 2017, when the 19-year-old Penn State sophomore sustained fatal injuries from falls after consuming alcohol in what prosecutors describe as hazing.

Trialonas read through a series of text messages sent to Piazza in January 2017 from multiple fraternities inviting him to rush events such as ‘blunts and 40s,’ beer olympics,’ ‘crate race’ and various daylong events. Piazza was invited to nearly three dozen events, many implied to involve alcohol, from mid to late January, and responded affirmatively that he would attend to 18 of them.

Deputy Attorney General Brian Zarallo, on redirect, noted that some of the events Piazza said he would attend took place at the same time, and that a member of the fraternity for one of the events he said he would attend texted him and said they hadn’t seen him in a few days.

Piazza also received a text from a friend asking if he was drunk while at a party at Zeta Psi and Piazza replied ‘I’m twisted.’ Trialonas asked Scicchitano if he knew that ‘twisted’ meant in this context to be drunk and high at the same time, which Scicchitano did not.

Scicchitano also said he was not aware that Piazza had rushed fraternities the prior semester.

Trialonas then questioned Scicchitano about text messages on Piazza’s phone related to acquiring and using marijuana. Scicchitano said he was not aware of and had not provided information to the medical examiner about any potential drug use by Piazza outside of his invitation to the ‘blunts and 40s’ party.

Text messages Piazza received in January inquired if he was interested in buying ‘an eighth’ for $30, to which he replied ‘Nah, Josh has me’ and a question from someone asking ‘who do you buy from here?’ Piazza also sent a a text message asking ‘if anyone is selling can you get me some?’ as well as a text message saying ‘I love weed.’

Trialonas also read text messages Piazza had received in which one sender referenced buying ‘an eight ball’ and another mentioned finding a rolled up dollar bill in his coat. Both messages referenced cocaine, however, Piazza did not send them and was one of a number of people in a group message to receive them.

Zarallo objected to the questioning, saying there is no allegation in the case about marijuana and that a toxicology screen showed no signs of marijuana or other narcotics in Piazza’s system.

Trialonas said it was relevant to question whether drugs interacting with alcohol may have had an exaggerating effect on Piazza the night of the bid acceptance. The 13 other pledges that night went through the same events and ‘the other pledges woke up the next morning,’ he said. 

‘The intent is not to drag him through the mud,’ Trialonas said. ‘Were [the fraternity brothers] truly reckless or was it something else going on with Mr. Piazza?’

Zarallo, however, again pointed to the toxicology report and said the screening always looks for the presence of narcotics. 

‘We’re getting pretty far afield,’ Zarallo said.

Michael Engle, representing Gary DiBileo, questioned Scicchitano about DiBileo’s interactions with Piazza. While DiBileo was seen on video holding up a bag of wine for Piazza to drink from, Scicchitano said their interaction appeared friendly and was no evidence that Piazza did not ask for the drink.

DiBileo also did not witness Piazza fall down the basement stairs and there was no evidence DiBileo saw Piazza unconscious after Piazza was carried to a couch upstairs. DiBileo also was in his room by 2:09 a.m. on Feb. 3 and did not come out until after 11 a.m., after fraternity brothers spent 40 minutes from the time they found Piazza unconscious until they called 911.

Engle went through text messages between DiBileo and his roommate and fellow fraternity brother Greg Rizzo, who is not charged in the case. Rizzo sent two messages to a a GroupMe used by fraternity brothers indicating he thought Piazza needed medical attention. He also told police that both he and DiBileo told others in person that they should call for help.

In the text messages sent on Feb. 3 and 4, 2017, Rizzo said that paramedics should have been called the night before, ‘and me and you kept saying that.’

‘We tried our best to get him help,’ DiBileo wrote. ‘Wish people listened.’

In further messages, DiBileo and Rizzo both indicated that they wished they had pushed harder to call 911.

Another message from Rizzo said that it seemed that when Piazza was on the couch as if he had just had too much to drink, and DiBileo wondered if Piazza’s falls in the early morning hours when no one was with him made his condition worse.

On questioning from Lance Marshall, attorney for Luke Visser, Scicchitano said that Visser did not take part in planning or purchasing alcohol for the obstacle course. He also said that other brothers were giving out beer at the station Visser was put in charge of running.

Scicchitano also answered that there was no evidence Visser saw other brothers giving alcohol to Piazza or that he saw Piazza staggering during the party in the basement. Visser left the house at 11:47 p.m., 25 minutes after Piazza’s fall down the stairs, and at the time he left others were ‘tending to’ Piazza, Scicchitano said. Visser did not return to the house until after Piazza had already been taken away the following morning.

Rocco Cipparone, who represents Michael Bonatucci, questioned Scicchitano about Bonatucci’s involvement on the night in question. Scicchitano said there was no evidence of direct interaction between Bonatucci and Piazza that night and that Bonatucci left the house at 11:10 p.m.

Bonatucci is charged with 14 counts of recklessly endangering another person, but Cipparone said he only gave beers to five people and Piazza was not among them

Scicchitano also testified that the obstacle course would have happened with or without Bonatucci’s involvement. He also said that other brothers had been admitted to the fraternity after choosing not to take part in the obstacle course.

The hearing will continue on Tuesday afternoon.