A challenge filed with the Florida Supreme Court over the state's anti-hazing law filed by a man found guilty in the FAMU hazing case could ripple across the country.

Florida A&M University attracted national attention in 2011, when 26-year-old drum major Robert Champion was killed in a band hazing tradition after the Florida Classic college football game in Orlando.

His attackers were convicted. But now, the man who investigators say organized the hazing, band member Dante Martin, is challenging the conviction.

“I’m not surprised this has become a defining case on hazing issues in Florida,” said Stetson University law school professor Peter Lake, an expert on national higher education law.

The issue has made its way to the Florida Supreme Court, where Martin's legal team is arguing that Florida’s hazing statute is too vague.

“Everyone nationally will be watching this case. This is not just really a Florida case — this will influence legal analysis in other states,” Lake said.

Lake says Florida's anti-hazing law is one that many states, and Florida universities, are looking at for guidance in creating their own statutes, because he says it’s very specific but also broad. So Martin’s appeal could have wider implications.


Stetson Law professor Peter Lake says other states and universities are looking to the Florida Supreme Court's ruling on the case, because they are looking for guidance on their own statutes. (Spectrum News 13)

“Let’s say the Supreme Court of Florida does overturn this statute. I would say just about every other statute in the United States will then be subject to a test," Lake said.

Martin’s attorneys said ideally, they’d like to see the statute re-examined and their client's conviction overturned — which could mean a new trial for Martin and new changes to Florida’s hazing statute.

“I would personally be surprised if the Supreme Court of Florida struck down this statute completely,” Lake said.

The state's high court will hear arguments Feb. 7 on Martin's case and ultimately decide whether the hazing law should stay, go, or change.

Will Martin and Champion’s families have to relive another trial in the future?

“If there’s been an injustice, then they will get ahead of it, at least to some extent, and be able to remediate that,” Lake said.