Parents of Robert Champion, the Florida A&M University band member who was killed during a hazing incident in 2011, were in an appeals court on Tuesday.

  • Dante Martin was sent to prison for the hazing death of Robert Champion
  • Martin's lawyer told appeal judges his client wasn't given a fair trial
  • Champion's parents are upset that Martin's lawyer called what happened ‘a competition’

Dante Martin was convicted in the death of Champion and sentenced to serve 77 months, or nearly three and a half years, in prison. The jury at that time convicted the former Florida A&M University band member. They found Martin guilty on all charges of felony hazing and manslaughter in the death of Champion, who was a drum major. 

His lawyer, Rupak Shah, argued before the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach, his client was not given a fair trial because the state wanted crucial evidence thrown out, which showed the hazing ritual was part of a competition in which Champion participated.

According to Shah, that competition was to get from one end of the bus to another while beaten by band members was part of the ritual.

If jurors would have heard that evidence, the outcome would have been different, Shah said and he asked for another trial.

Champion’s parents said calling the beating death of their son “a competition” can have far reaching consequences.

“When an attorney comes up and saying my son’s death was a sport, it was a competition, he can be opening up the doors across this country to tell people, ‘If you kill somebody, it’s a competition,’” said father Robert Champion.

Normally the Fifth District Court of Appeal judges do not make a ruling the same day. The ruling could come down several days after the judges hear the case.