Closing arguments are expected today in the case of a former Florida A&M university band member charged with manslaughter and hazing.
The alleged hazing incident almost three years ago led to the death of drum major Robert Champion.
Lawyers for the prosecution and the defense have rested their cases in the trial of Dante Martin.
Martin’s accused of leading a hazing ritual inside a parked bus in Orlando in November 2011.
The band was in Orlando for the Florida Classic football game.
The ritual was known as “crossing bus C”
Prosecutors say 26 year old drum major Robert Champion ran a gauntlet of students who kicked and beat him with fists and drumsticks.
A state medical examiner told the court Thursday that Champion died of blood loss from the bruises he sustained during the beating.
The defense has argued ‘crossing bus C’ was not hazing under the state’s anti hazing law because no one required band members to take part, and it didn’t have any influence on their advancement in the band.