A former Louisiana State University student sent to prison for his role in the alcohol-related hazing death of a freshman from Roswell won’t appeal his conviction.
Matthew Naquin, 21, of Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas, was convicted in July of negligent homicide in the September 2017 death of Max Gruver. Naquin was sentenced to five years in prison, but a judge suspended all but 2½ years of the term. He began serving his sentence Jan. 17, The Advocate reported.
Gruver, 18, died after a hazing incident at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house, according to investigators. He had an alcohol level of .495% — more than six times the legal limit for drivers — at the time of his death, the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office previously said.
On Tuesday, Naquin waived his right to appeal. In exchange, prosecutors dropped an obstruction of justice charge, according to The Advocate.
Prosecutors placed the bulk of the blame for Gruver’s death on Naquin. At trial, they told the jury Naquin ripped up Gruver’s bid card and made it his personal mission to keep Gruver out of the fraternity, The Advocate previously reported. During the ritual, when Gruver answered questions about the fraternity incorrectly, prosecutors said Naquin forced him to drink.
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Gruver was a 2017 graduate of Blessed Trinity High School and planned to study journalism at LSU. He loved sports and helped coach younger children, including his sister's basketball team, according to his family.
“Max was very lovable. He cared a lot about people,” Eugene Gruver, Max’s grandfather, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the day after his death. “He was bright, he was intelligent. He was so talented. He knew all about sports.”
The family later founded The Max Gruver Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to ending hazing on college campuses. His parents said a journal entry found shortly after his death inspired the foundation.
“God works in funny ways,” Gruver wrote, according to the foundation’s website. “He does bad things sometimes because in the end they are good. Something bad may happen to you, but it may happen because it will make you better. He does bad to ultimately create good.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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