COLUMBIA, Mo. — A Manchester man has pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the hazing of a University of Missouri freshman who sustained massive brain damage after drinking a liter of vodka during a 2021 fraternity event.
Ryan P. Delanty pleaded guilty Friday in Boone County Circuit Court to supplying liquor to a minor and a reduced misdemeanor charge of hazing for his role in an October 2021 Phi Gamma Delta fraternity event that left 19-year-old Danny Santulli unable to see, walk or speak.
“Ryan understands the gravity of the situation, and he’s pleased to reach a resolution that avoided a trial,” said Delanty’s lawyer, Stephanie Fortus.
The incident resulted in criminal charges for nearly a dozen fraternity brothers who attended the event that night and the expulsion of Phi Gamma Delta from Mizzou. Santulli’s family also filed a civil lawsuit against the fraternity and 23 members, which was settled out of court for an unspecified amount.
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“It’s the worst fraternity hazing injury ever in the United States,” David Bianchi, lawyer for the Santulli family, said in June 2022.
Santulli was at the chapter house attending the fraternity’s “pledge dad reveal night” on Oct. 19, 2022, when the lawsuit says Delanty — Santulli’s “pledge dad” — handed him a bottle of Tito’s vodka and told him to drink it. Another member poured beer into his mouth with a funnel and a tube.
Members then left Santulli sitting on a couch with a blood-alcohol level of 0.468% — nearly six times the legal limit to drive in Missouri. He eventually slid off the couch, and his face was on the floor. His skin was pale and lips blue, the lawsuit says.
Fraternity brothers drove him to the hospital, but by then, Santulli’s heart had stopped. He sustained major brain damage.
Several members of the fraternity were later charged in the incident, including Delanty and Thomas Shultz, of Chesterfield.
Schultz pleaded guilty in April to supplying liquor to a minor and was sentenced to two years of probation, which included 30 days in jail, 100 hours of required community service and the completion of a drug and alcohol education program.
Delanty’s case was set for trial next week, but instead, he pleaded guilty to the reduced charges.
As part of the agreement, prosecutors will recommend he be sentenced to six months in the Boone County jail followed by six months on house arrest.
He is set to be sentenced May 24.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographers captured April 2024 in hundreds of images. Here are just some of those photos. Edited by Jenna Jones.
