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Sylvania native has pretrial appearance in Stone Foltz hazing death case

Ben Boyers previously pleaded not guilty. Also on Friday, the state filed a motion to request to indict the 8 defendants together rather than separately.

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — EDITOR'S NOTE: The video above is from August, when Boyers was re-indicted on charges in the Stone Foltz case. 

A pretrial hearing was held Friday for Sylvania native Ben Boyers, one of the eight co-defendants in the hazing case regarding the death of BGSU sophomore Stone Foltz's death back in March.

Boyers is charged with involuntary manslaughter, tampering with evidence, and hazing.

Friday in a Wood County court, a motion for joinder was filed by the state, which is a request to indict the eight defendants together versus separately.

According to court documents, this is because everyone's charges stem from the same incident. 

Boyers previously pleaded not guilty to his charges.

On Thursday, defendant Aaron Lehane changed his original plea and pleaded guilty in Wood County Common Pleas Court to nearly a dozen charges connected to Foltz's death by acute alcohol intoxication.

Lehane pleaded guilty to 11 of the 17 charges he faced. The charges he pleaded guilty to include tampering with evidence, obstructing official business and hazing.

He will be sentenced on February 10 at 1:30 p.m.  

Credit: WTOL 11
Aaron Lehane pleaded guilty in Wood County Common Pleas Court to nearly a dozen charges connected to Foltz's death by acute alcohol intoxication.

Earlier this week, another man facing charges in the hazing death was arrested and on Thursday he also appeared in Wood County Common Pleas Court. Jacob Krinn was arrested Wednesday after being accused of violating part of his electronic monitoring program. 

Krinn was released on an own recognizance bond, ordered to submit a hair follicle test and scheduled to return to court for a final pretrial on Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. Krinn was indicted on seven charges connected to the death of Stone Foltz including involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault and reckless homicide.

Credit: WTOL 11
Jacob Krinn was arrested for violating terms of his electronic monitoring program.

Seven others were charged in Foltz's death. Niall Sweeney, of Erie, Penn., pleaded guilty last month to tampering with evidence in an agreement to drop an involuntary manslaughter charge.

Credit: WTOL 11
Niall Sweeney of Erie, PA, pleads not guilty May 19 to charges against him in the hazing death of BGSU student Stone Foltz.

Foltz, 20, was found unresponsive on March 4 inside his apartment by his roommate. An investigation determined he was involved in an alcohol-related hazing incident earlier that night at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, also known as PIKE.

Credit: Foltz family
The family of Bowling Green State University student Stone Foltz, who died March 7, days after an alleged alcohol-fueled fraternity hazing event, want justice for their son's death.

Foltz was at a new member initiation, where new members, known as "littles" and who were almost all underage, received "bigs" or mentors, who allegedly gave their littles high alcohol content liquor and instructed them to drink the whole bottle.

The roommate performed CPR until EMS arrived. Foltz was taken to the Wood County Hospital and later to Toledo Hospital, where he died on March 7. 

The coroner said Foltz died of fatal ethanol intoxication. His blood alcohol content, or BAC, was 0.394, according to the family, who said it was likely even higher immediately after the alleged hazing ritual.

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