Hazing victim hires attorney. National frat chapter says accused aren’t members

Crime admin July 29, 2026 0 Comments

Hazing victim hires attorney. National frat chapter says accused aren’t members

Days after the arrests of three men accused of hazing two others so extremely that they required emergency medical care, one of the victims has retained counsel for a civil suit.

Victim 1, a University of Miami law student whose skin was so damaged after the hazing that it required surgical removal and skin grafts and whose internal injuries required emergency care, retained an attorney from Morgan & Morgan, the firm announced Tuesday.

“No student should have to risk serious injury or death to earn friendship or acceptance.” Thomas Hasty, who is representing the victim, said in a written statement. “Hazing is not tradition—it is abuse. Our goal is justice for our client and lasting change to ensure no prospective fraternity or sorority member is ever subjected to this kind of violence again.”

He said his client “suffered severe physical injuries and lasting psychological damage,” and was “simultaneously pursuing civil justice by working to hold every responsible person and organization accountable

Marquez Christopher Pinder, 29, Jared Lamar James, 26, and Elijah Delano Dyous, 29, were arrested Sunday. Each was charged with two counts of attempted manslaughter with a deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count of hazing with a deadly weapon — all felonies.

READ MORE: 3 arrested in Miami frat hazing with ‘repeated beatings with canes and paddles’

Pinder is a U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to the Miami field office. The agency said he has been on administrative leave since they learned of the investigation. The three men are set to be arraigned on Sept. 23.

Pinder’s attorney, Justin Beckham, previously told the Herald that his client was ‘grossly overcharged,’ without providing any more information.

According to the arrest warrants, the two victims were told to go to two different locations as part of Kappa Alpha Psi’s alumni chapter membership process where they would be tested on fraternity history. Victim 1 told police that he had attended interest meetings for the fraternity as an undergraduate then passed a test and was admitted as an alumni while he attended law school in February 2026.

The two victims met every night from April 1 through April 3 at an apartment in Sweetwater where they were quizzed and beaten with paddles and canes for wrong answers, according to the affidavit.

On April 4 they were told to go to a house in unincorporated Miami-Dade, northwest of Cutler Bay, where they were again intensely beaten to the point where one of the victims was bleeding, investigators say. Four other men, ages 26-30, are named as witnesses. While they did not participate in the beatings, according to the arrest warrants, they were present and intimidated the two victims.

That same night, according to victim 1, when members saw they were bloody, the two men were told to take off their clothes and bag them.

The arrest warrant states that the hazing left victim 1 with catastrophic injuries. After several days of repeated paddling and canings, the victim’s condition deteriorated. He began vomiting, developed fevers and experienced what the warrant described as “extreme pain” in his buttocks, prompting him to go to an urgent care clinic before being transferred to Jackson South Medical Center.

Medical records cited in the warrant state that the soft tissue in victim 1’s buttocks had been severely damaged by the repeated trauma, with a large portion becoming necrotic — meaning his cells were dead. According to the warrant, the victim continues to suffer extreme pain, and the injuries have significantly affected his mobility and quality of life.

Victim 2, who is a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue employee according to the New York Times, was repeatedly struck with canes and paddles and bled through his underwear and pants because of lacerations to his buttocks, according to the warrant.

Initially, victim 2 denied that any hazing had occurred when questioned by investigators, but later recanted and disclosed he and another pledge had been subjected to repeated beatings as part of the fraternity’s initiation process.

The Herald could not find any previous criminal record for the three men.

Fraternity says subjects are not members

The national chapter of the fraternity issued a statement saying that the three accused men were not active or financial members of the fraternity.

“They do not have an official affiliation with any chapter nor any official role with the organization,” read the statement. “Likewise, they do not have any authority to conduct any program or authorize any process on our behalf. We have and will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement as they conduct their investigation to help with the administration of justice as it should unfold.”

Victim 1, however, told detectives that Pinder was the dean of pledges, James was the vice dean of pledges, and Dyous was the one who assigned Pinder and James, and also explained the hazing process, according to the warrant affidavits.

Herald reporters emailed questions to the chapter, including whether the three men were ever active members, but did not receive a response.

“Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. maintains a zero-tolerance policy on hazing.” Jimmy McMikle, the chapter’s national director said in the statement. “Hazing is illegal, strictly prohibited, and is never a condition of membership”.

One of the victims, identified only as Victim 1, is a law student at the University of Miami.

“Other than the fact that one of the victims is a University of Miami School of Law student, this incident has nothing to do with the University of Miami or the University of Miami chapter of the fraternity,” said a UM spokesperson in a written statement to the Herald when asked for comment.

Aside from the arrest warrants no other public record has been released because the case remains an active criminal investigation, according to the Sweetwater Police Department.