ITHACA -- Testimony is under way in the trial of three men charged in connection with the alcohol-related death of a Cornell University student.
Max Haskin, Benn Mann and Edward Williams are on trial in Ithaca on charges of hazing and unlawfully dealing with a child. The three former frat pledges have pleaded not guilty.
19-year-old George Desdunes of Brooklyn was found unconscious at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house in February 2011 and later pronounced dead. Authorities said his blood-alcohol level was 0.35 percent, more than four times the legal limit for driving.
Desdunes was found unconscious on a couch and the lawsuit says he had his hands and feet bound in a mock kidnapping.
Prosecutors say Desdunes and another pledge were given cups of vodka to drink when they answered frat history questions incorrectly.
Desdunes' mother filed a multimillion-dollar wrongful-death lawsuit against the national fraternity last June.
